Could the Chicago Bears find a Matt Nagy clone?
The Chicago Bears draft prospect that could be Matt Nagy is Shane Buechele. Now, mind you, these are quarterbacks that the Chicago Bears could be targeting (not my favorites like King or Ridder). Southern Methodist University (SMU) was hardly known for producing talent in this generation of athletes.
Courtland Sutton and James Proche are the most recent talents to join the NFL. Before them, the biggest standout is Emmanuel Sanders, unless you are counting Margus Hunt, who has had a solid career, but nothing like Sanders. SMU had not more than seven wins dating back to 2011.
When Junior transfer Buechele transferred from Texas, knowing that he was ready for that starting role, he led SMU to 10 wins and a bowl game. The opposite of Trubisky would be taking a chance on Buechele.
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Once a backup that was going to ride out his time behind Sam Ehlinger, Buechele took his own destiny in his hands and left his Texas brothers to show the world that he can play. He is undersized, listed at 6’1 207 pounds; most draft analysts will see him as a backup. And maybe they are right, but what is he is more?
Buechele is known as a team-first leader that is normally the smartest player on the field. Where have we heard that before? The difference between Buechele and Foles (minus ones in the NFL) is that Buechele is athletic and has more velocity behind his fastball. He is also a lot smaller than Foles.
Let’s bring up Bill Parcells and his rules for drafting a quarterback again. A three-year starter, check. A senior, check. Graduate from college, check. Start 30 games, check. Win 23 games, check. Post a 2-1 TD: INT ratio, check. Lastly, complete 60 percent of his passes or more. Double-check.
Buechele is likely the best senior quarterback coming out and a sleeper that’s better than we know. He was once rated as the fourth-best dual-threat quarterback in the nation as a high school prospect. Now take that for what it is, but he had a 4.79 40-yard dash and a 4.38 shuttle run as a freshman entering the University of Texas.
I bring that up because Daniel Jones, who ran a 4.82 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, is a lot faster than his time. If you find some tape of Buechele running, it’s pretty good. You won’t see him using his legs unless he absolutely needs to use them though.