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The Morning Dump: Love, Exciting and New
- Tim Brusveen
- Apr 25
- 3 min read
The Bears tightened their end on Thursday night and it's not even the weekend yet.
It’s an internet cliché to say that many things can be true at once but many things can be true at once. The Bears did use their tenth pick on a low value position, one in which they already have a capable starter and the player they took is coming off of shoulder surgery and “should” be ready for training camp. Oh and he also wasn’t even the consensus top player at that low value position. They also almost certainly got sniped by New Orleans the pick before and the guy they were ready to take was Kelvin Banks. However, they have invested everything in Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams so if Ben Johnson thinks that Colston Loveland is the best way to support his vision and Caleb’s development so be it I suppose.
The afternoon chatter of a trade up for Ashton Jeanty certainly skewed expectations of what the night was going to be. By most expectations it was going to end with this sort of conflicted feeling over the pick and a deep hope but not very much faith that they got it right. Welp, here we are.
Unless it was Jeanty or an unexpected fall from Mason Graham, it wasn’t ever going to be the perfect pick but the thing that’s tamping down any enthusiasm at the moment is they are almost certainly out of the starting tackle range now with the two they could have taken going to Washington and Kansas City. Sure, those picks are later and it's easier to justify a project like Josh Conerly or an injured player like Josh Simmons but at a certain point you realize good teams stay good because they do the simple things correctly. On the other hand, they seem like they are going to successfully wait out the edge position, which didn’t seem as strong as some were billing it with high-level talent like Donovan Ezeiruaku and maybe even Mike Green still available. They can grab their pass rusher early on the second day if they want.
Let’s talk Day 2. The Bears have two of the first nine picks. Lots of best available lists will be filled with cornerbacks but we’re going to exclude them for now just because I don’t think they’ll take a corner this early but if they want to take Shavon Revel, go for it. Wide receiver has also been left off my list below because I can’t see them taking another pass catcher so early but again, if they want to take Luther Burden, go for it. Here are the top nine players available who would fit in the areas of need at this point in the draft.
Edge/Marshall
Big Board Rank: 10
Edge/Boston College
Big Board Rank: 17
Edge/Texas A&M
Big Board Rank: 29
S/Penn State
Big Board Rank: 33
DI/Tennessee
Big Board Rank: 34
S/Notre Dame
Big Board Rank: 36
Edge/Arkansas
Big Board Rank: 39
Edge/LSU
Big Board Rank: 47
DI/Toledo
Big Board Rank: 49
Considering the red flags that already existed, Mike Green sliding out of the first round seems to indicate there may be no floor to his slide. It would shock me if the Bears took him this early but from a purely football standpoint it could end up being the steal of the draft. Lots of ways they can go here but if you read some of the tea leaves about their interest, the two picks could be guys who aren’t even listed above but fit pressing needs and came in for a Top 30 visit at Halas Hall; running back Kaleb Johnson and offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea.
