Day: May 3, 2015

You Can’t Walk Off the Island

I heard a joke the other day that I’d like to pass along as we all consider the consequences of what the Bears did in the NFL draft over the last few days.

Joshua was a devout man who had fallen on hard times. Finally, having exhausted all avenues, he fell to his knees and prayed, “Lord, please help me win the lottery or else I’ll lose my business.” But that week Joshua didn’t win. He then knelt down again and said, “Lord, please help me win the lottery or I’m going to lose my house.” But Joshua still didn’t win the lottery. Finally, Joshua fell prostrate and begged, “Lord please, please help me win the lottery, or my wife is going to take the kids and leave me.” Suddenly the wind began to blow and there was a loud roar. The sky opened and a voice boomed, “Joshua. Buy a fucking ticket.”

Jeff Dickerson at ESPN comments on the Bears draft:

“Riskiest move: After Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, this quarterback draft class was weak. Still, the Bears need to eventually find a future replacement for Jay Cutler. Pace had the opportunity to grab UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley in the fifth round but instead chose Penn State safety Adrian Amos. Hundley went a couple spots later to rival Green Bay. If Hundley eventually becomes a starting quarterback somewhere in the league, the decision to ignore quarterback on Day 3 might haunt the Bears.”

This is a football blog but that doesn’t mean that lessons can’t be learned from other sports when examining the situations that football teams find themselves in. In baseball, Dominicans are known throughout the major leagues as free swingers at the plate. When asked about his tendency to take his rips at borderline pitches once in 1986, Dominican shortstop Rafael Ramirez explained, “You have to swing like a man. You can’t walk off the island.”

The Green Bay Packers had a quarterback in Brett Favre when they took a swing anyway and drafted Aaron Rogers in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Now they have their quarterback for years to come in Rogers. And still they draft quarterbacks to develop, knowing that you just can’t have too many players at the most important position in football.

On the other hand, the Bears actually need a quarterback.  Virtually everyone outside of Chicago knows it and those inside simply can’t face the fact that Cutler isn’t going to turn into something different in his tenth year in the league.  Bears general manager Ryan Pace talked before the draft about “ideally” drafting a quarterback every year. But when his time at the plate came, instead of taking his swings, Pace stuck to his board. This is usually something I would strongly advocate. But not in this case.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like quarterback Shane Carden. I really do – much better than most football experts. But those football experts are going to be the ones with Carden’s fate in their hands. No one signs an undrafted free agent expecting him to be their quarterback of the future.

You can draft and draft and draft every other position on the field.  But you aren’t going anywhere without a quarterback.  And I don’t care if you try in a weak free agent market or in a weak draft class,  you aren’t going to find one by failing to take your swings at the position.

Even with a quarterback in hand, the Green Bay Packers continue to take their swings at the plate knowing that no one gets a hit without trying. The Bears…

Ryan. Buy a fucking ticket.

More Than Usual, the Bears Draft Was All About the “Develop” Part of “Draft and Develop”

To describe the Bears draft class as a whole, the word “projects” is probably too strong. But it’s clear that the Bears top draft picks are going to need a great deal of work.

Let’s start with first round receiver, Kevin White. White has great size and physical ability but when you look at him on video, the thing that stands out is how raw he is. The West Virginia game versus Maryland, below, give you a good idea of what I’m talking about:

White uses his big frame well to get physical with corners and get open. And he uses it to block well, too. But you have to ask yourself how far this will take him against the better athletes in the NFL. White’s route running needs work and at times its down right atrocious, looking like you or I playing catch in the back yard.

White had only two seasons of division I football and he really only produced in one (last year). He needs to work on all of the little things that other receivers like Amari Cooper are well on their way to mastering – footwork, getting off the line of scrimmage and, especially, working on all of the routes in the vertical tree and making them all look the same.

Second round defensive tackle Eddie Goldman is better but its a similar story. He’s a true junior who just turned 21 in January. He hasn’t played as much football as you’d like and on occasion it shows. Note the game against Louisville below.

The great thing about this video is that it shows tremendous effort from Goldman. He’s extremely active in the middle of the line. The problem is that he’s so active that he literally takes himself out of the play on occasion. Discipline in a two gaps scheme is something Goldman is going to have to learn. The good news is that he may already be well on his way to doing that. Note this game against Florida a month later.

Goldman is much more disciplined here, holding the middle consistently agains double teams on almost every snap.  As general manager Ryan Pace noted in his Friday press conference, Goldman plays with great pad level and leverage and it’s especially evident in this video.  His pass rush took a step back in this game, though.

Note that Goldman has a reputation for taking plays off but I certainly didn’t see it in these games. The worst I can say is that he got tire late and it showed. Conditioning may be an issue but he may find himself rotating out more often in the pros, at least initially.

Finally, there’s the Bears third round pick, Hroniss Grasu. Grasu is different from Goldman and White in that he’s a four year starter for Oregon. He’s a bit under-sized but takes advantage of good technique to move larger defensive linemen out of the way (by reputation – I couldn’t find video online of Grassu to confirm this myself). Grassu’s problem is that he’s a center and, therefore by the nature of the position, unlikely to contribute right away in that role. The odds are that he’ll need a year of development and work in the weight room, possibly as a guard, before replacing Will Montgomery as center as the heir apparent.

These prospects, along with true sixth round developmental project, offensive tackle Tayo Fabuluje, are all promising. But Bears fans are going to have to wait to see it they attain their true potential – possibly more than one year. In the mean time, the Bears coaching staff is going to have to earn their money with these guys.

I think Bears fans can give the team the thumbs up for drafting good athletes with potential. For now.