What Chicago Bears Draft Choice Tells Us About Idea of 2018
With the #8 Overall Pick, the Chicago Bears select…
Chicago Bears
An Edge Rusher
Possible Players: Bradley Chubb, Arden Key, Harold Landry, Marcus Davenport
Likely Status in 2018: Rotational Outside Linebacker
What does it say about the Bears:
Bringing in a pass rusher at number 8 is similar to bringing in a guard but for different reasons. There are significant questions for the Bears with all of the top pass rushers in this class. Can Chubb play outside and cover passes (he’s a better fit to add 10 pounds and play DE in a 4-3 scheme)? Can Key overcome his issues to develop into the pass rushing force some say that he could be? Can Davenport master the technique necessary to play consistently at the NFL level? Is Landry the same player after his injury?
The Good:
If the Bears can find one who hits, he could make the entire defense better and tag team with Floyd to force quarterbacks to adjust on the fly and under pressure. He would help the defensive backfield do better by making opponents passes less accurate and the defensive line do better by allowing more rotation so that Hicks doesn’t have to see 80% of the defensive snaps because he’s providing the majority of the pass rush.
The Bad:
The bringing in of a player who has this many question marks at number 8 would be a tough sell when there will be a number of other players who are clearly more deserving of the pick by their talent level alone.
Summary
As you can see, there are a number of ways that things can do this offseason. Much of what the Bears choose to do in the draft will tell us how they see their chances in 2018 and whether they intend to be contenders or continue to build the roster up.
I believe that a trade down is the best scenario this year, but that may not be possible as many teams will also be looking to trade down. The competition to do so may make it less attractive as the return may not be where we expect it to be.
The big question that will linger until after the draft is:
Is this Bears team chasing wins or roster development this season?
We’ll know a lot more, and answers to this question and others like it, after the dust settles on April 29th.
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