OK, back to the Bears. We talked about their first pick, TE Colston Loveland; what about the rest of the new guys?
In the 2nd round, the Bears selected WR Luther Burden III from Missouri; I couldn’t tell you if it was a good or bad pick. What I can tell you, again, is that this was a Ben Johnson pick; he’s really loading up on the weapons. Another young WR to pair with Rome, and of course, the veteran of the bunch DJ Moore. We now have 2 young tight ends as well, with a new and improved offensive line blocking for potential franchise QB Caleb Williams. On paper…
The next pick in the 2nd round was back to the offensive line, with OT Ozzy Trapilo from Boston College; I like it. The more young guys we can add in the trenches, the better, which brings me to the Bears 3rd 2nd round pick, DT Shemar Turner from Texas A&M. In general, I like taking guys from big schools, from the big conferences. Of course, the level of competition these guys has seen is unmatched. Not saying you can’t mine guys from little schools, like Charles Tillman back in the day, but I think the best route is the big boys.
4th round pick was LB Ruben Hyppolite II from Texas. 5th round pick was CB Zah Frazier from UTSA. 6th round pick was another lineman, G Luke Newman from Michigan State. Finally, in the 7th round, the Bears selected RB Kyle Monangai from Rutgers. Whew! In summary, 5 out of 8 picks were made on the offensive side of the ball. I’ll say it again; this was a Ben Johnson draft. I hope he knows what he’s doing.
Everybody is saying we did well; what do the “experts” know? You know, the guys that thought Deion’s kid would be taken in the first round; what a fall that was. It’s crazy to me how many people attended the NFL draft in person, although taking into account where it was, and what else there is to do around there, well, I guess it makes sense. The NFL has proven once again that it is king. I think I read the ratings for the draft were better than the ratings for the NBA playoff games, and the ratings for the NBA playoff games are up… wow. We’re 5 months from the season, and the NFL is still #1…
I hope the Bears got it right. Here I am, sitting here, thinking the Bears are going to have a good season… again. How many times have I been fooled? How many times have my expectations been high, only to faceplant after X number of weeks into the season? Well, I can’t tell you how many times, but it’s been a lot, and you know what? There will be more of those flops to come, and I’ll fall for it, over and over again. But this year??? Well, maybe I’ll finally be right. Maybe the Bears performance on the field will finally meet my high expectations. Maybe the Bears will finally NOT suck. Maybe the Bears will return to the playoffs. Maybe a Super Bowl is in our near future. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself (but I will… eventually), but on paper… I can’t wait for the season to begin. Bear Down!!!
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