With the 75th pick in the NFL draft, the Chicago Bears selected Hinsdale, Illinois native Kiran Amegadjie. It was a pick that surprised many people due to the nature of playing your college football days at Yale, out of the bright lights of the big Power 5 conference teams. From a distance, Amegadjie fits the bill of a lot of linemen that Ryan Poles has liked to target in the early years of his Chicago tenure.
Amegadjie brings tons of pure athleticism as well as the size to remain at tackle, but he also brings versatility and the ability to move inside to guard. Also, similarly to most of the other linemen Poles has targeted, it will be very important to note how well Amegadjie develops in the pass protection game as he is still very raw in that genre of offensive line play.
Kiran Amegadjie should be ready for Training Camp in July.
In my eyes, this is the pick that I have been asking for since the beginning of time, I cannot remember the time the Bears used a third to fifth-round pick on a developmental offensive lineman. With Nate Davis struggling last year and Teven Jenkins’ health being unreliable as always, it is great to see the Bears take a player who could develop into a long-term guard solution. In my opinion, day three is a great time to pick up a developmental offensive lineman with athleticism and versatility. Even though the Bears may have reached out of that comfort zone of it being on day three, I am still perfectly fine with the pick.
I find it likely that Amegadjie finds himself in a guard role assuming his pass-protection skills never fully develop, and moving him inside could be more forgiving and allow him to lean more on his athleticism and run-blocking skills. But the door will remain open for Amegadjie to develop into a legitimate tackle solution.