Chicago Bears 7-Round Mock Draft 2.0: Bolstering the trenches
By Ryan Olson
2nd Round, Pick #61: Blake Freeland, OT
The offensive tackle out of Brigham Young University (BYU) is a player very similar to Braxton Jones, which is why he could be a target for this Bears team. Freeland is a great athlete that excels at run blocking and it showed at BYU, which fits well with the Bears as they look to be a run-first offense.
This pick makes me nervous for Justin Fields’ sake as the Bears’ offensive line is already very suspect in the pass protection game Freeland needs to improve as a pass protector. Banking on Freeland to be a starter is certainly a leap of faith as most of the offensive line is already unproven, and adding Freeland adds another unknown variable to that offensive line. Hopefully, the Bears can add a veteran tackle to compete with Freeland for the starting spot as he should not default to the starting job.
Pass protection as a rookie is already hard enough, but given the fact that Freeland wasn’t very great in college just makes it even tougher of a task, but the Bears will be in a tough spot regardless because of their unwillingness to spend big on a tackle earlier this offseason.