Chicago Bears: Mid-free agency full seven-round 2021 mock draft

With the 27th overall pick, the Chicago Bears select Samuel Cosmi

The Chicago Bears select Samuel Cosmi (offensive tackle) Texas. Now the other top-three players on the board were Kadarius Toney (wide receiver), Teven Jenkins (offensive tackle) and Travis Etienne (running back).

While Teven Jenkins would be a nice day-one selection at right tackle, this class is intense at tackle, and fixing the blindside protector is slightly more valuable than fixing the run-blocking position early.

Charles Leno’s days are numbered. While the starting left tackle for the Chicago Bears gets a great deal of criticism from the fans, he is not as bad as many view him. However, if the Chicago Bears are going in an offensive direction, it is time to upgrade the position.

Samuel Cosmi’s head coach is already on the Chicago Bears roster. The team already has a head start with his evaluation process. If Cosmi is as talented as many project, Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace already know.

Cosmi is one of the more athletic blocking left tackles in this draft. He is listed at 6’6″ and 314 pounds. During the Texas pro day, Cosmi put on a show, putting up 36 reps on the bench press, 30-inch vertical leap, 4.84-second 40-yard dash, 4.39 shuttle, and a 7.39 3-cone.

Cosmi improved every year, raising his Pro Football Focus (PFF) grade from 79.7 to 83.9 to 90.8. If Juan Castillo is really good at teaching technique, then the challenges Cosmi has in that department should be cleaned up fairly quickly, and Charles Leno could be as good as gone as the starter by the end of training camp.

According to PFF, Cosmi saw well over 400 pass sets, the fourth-most in a power five conference. He allowed four quarterback hits (three came during his first year in 2018) and six sacks (three also came during his first year in 2018). When comparing Cosmi to Christian Darrisaw, Cosmi allowed one less sack and quarterback hits during the same starting time frame.

Darrisaw did improve at a high rate, so he allowed zero quarterback hits his final college season. Darrisaw focused on fixing his fundamentals going into his final season, something Cosmi can fix if he puts the work in.