Should the Chicago Bears take a running back at 87 no matter what?
It’s no secret that the Chicago Bears have a need at running back. They only have one “every down” back on the roster in the person of Mike Davis. Tarik Cohen is a nice piece and Cordarrelle Patterson will be able to spend some time back there as well.
But the bottom line right now is that if Mike Davis struggles or gets injured, the Bears don’t have a running back that they can put back there and trust that he can handle 15 touches a game and get some yards between the tackles.
With the Bears not picking until the 87th pick of the draft, they need to make sure every one of their draft picks counts. With the need at running back an important one, should they narrow their focus to grabbing a back at 87?
The answer to that is definitely not.
The Bears need a running back, there’s no doubt about it. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have needs elsewhere. They need to make sure the heir apparent to Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is on the roster as he is almost certainly a one and done player on this roster.
They need depth at outside cornerback because after Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara, they are heavily reliant on the unproven Kevin Tolliver or bouncing Buster Skrine to the outside where he isn’t as effective.
They absolutely need more depth at the edge position, and if they are unable to re-sign Leonard Floyd, they will have a gaping hole there if they don’t have his replacement.
The issue with those positions is that the quality of player at those positions won’t be there in the fourth and fifth rounds like it will be at running back.
The best bet right now is for the Bears to take the best player available at 87 at a position of need and wait to take a running back in the fourth round, potentially even the fifth if there are running backs that are sliding down in the draft.
Ryan Pace needs to play these middle rounds to perfection because he needs to maximize those picks and get the most talent on the field because for the Bears to be firing on all cylinders, they need to find a couple of rookie contributors to play in 2019.