Bears
- Sean Jensen at the Chicago Sun-Times thinks a lot better of GM Jerry Angelo’s drafts than I do. He makes some good points in Angelo’s defense:
“Among the 12 playoff teams from the 2010 season, the Bears are seventh with 24 drafted players on their roster, four behind the league-leading Packers and Ravens.:
“And while defensive tackle Tommie Harris is the Bears’ only first-round pick to make a Pro Bowl roster since 2002, the club has distinguished itself by scoring in later rounds with stars such as Devin Hester (second round), Lance Briggs (third) and Johnny Knox (fifth).”
“By contrast, the Detroit Lions have no draft picks from 2002 to 2005 on the current roster. Busts during that stretch include quarterback Joey Harrington (third overall, 2002), receiver Charles Rogers (second, 2003), receiver Mike Williams (seventh, 2004) and receiver Mike Williams (10th, 2005).”
- Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune anticipates the Bears pre-draft press conference today:
“It’s an annual affair as teams work to spread as much misinformation as possible in an effort to mask their true intentions.”
Biggs goes on into a detailed discussion centering on the possibility that the Bears might trade down.
- John Mullin at CSNChicago.com brings up this interesting point as he discusses the possibility that the Bears will draft a late round Edmund Gate type from Abilene Christian:
“Here’s where the switch from Greg Gabriel as college scouting director to Tim Ruskell as director of all player personnel [becomes a factor]. Gabriel clearly liked the small-college Texas kids (more than just Texas ones, actually) and it remains to be seen how Ruskell leans on the projects from smaller programs.”
- Todd McShay at Scouts Inc. has done another mock draft. This time he has the Bears taking Baylor guard Danny Watkins.
- Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune reviews the running backs in the draft. He doesn’t see it as a big need but figures the Bears might draft competition for Chester Taylor if the right guy falls.
- Biggs reports that the Bears will interview Baylor cornerback Antareis Bryan. I thought this might be more significant than most since they’re going Dallas to talk to him. Bryan is a potential late round pick who has fallen because he appears to be injury prone.
- The Chicago Tribune’s Dan Pompei and I see Chris William’s situation in more or less the same light:
“Williams was moved to left guard out of necessity, not because anyone thought he was a better guard than tackle. [Offensive line coach Mike] Tice and Lovie Smith thought Williams was the best candidate to play the position. In a perfect world though, I think the team would like to give Williams another shot at tackle, probably right tackle, where he has played his best football. Which position he will play depends on other players the Bears acquire.”
Elsewhere
- ESPN did a break down of the highest athlete’s salaries world-wide from all sports and almost 200 countries.
- I can remember a time when I was excited that the Bears got a little respect by rating a Monday Night matchup. Now the Lions can have them all as far as I’m concerned. From Tom Kowalski at mlive.com.
- ESPN NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert did an intriguing analysis of “accuracy” in the form of college completion percentage as a predictor of success in the NFL.
- One of the more intriguing questions in this draft will be how far talented defensive end Da’Quan Bowers falls due to concerns about his knee. McShay has him falling all the way to the Buccaneers at #20 in his latest mock draft.
One Final Thought
Pompei answers your questions:
“Do you think Mike Singletary has gotten a bad rap as a coach who isn’t a good X and O guy?”
“-David, Bratislava, Slovakia
“I don’t think it’s fair to judge Singletary as a head coach after a little more than two years with the 49ers. I don’t think anyone could be considered a ‘good X and O guy’ working with the quarterbacks that Singletary had to work with. I’m not sure Singletary was ready to become a head coach when he became one. But knowing him the way I do, I’m sure he has learned from the experience. And if he gets another chance, I’m sure he’ll keep his pants on this time.”
I could not agree more. Like most NFL fans I loved Singletary’s famous 49ers rant shortly after he took over as head coach. He also reportedly dropped his pants to make a point during a half-time speech. But I also was disturbed by this press conference because I knew how wearing a display of that kind of emotion can be week-after-week on the average human object. Eventually your people tune it out. I think that’s what happened with the 49ers players.
People love to criticize Lovie Smith for not showing more emotion. But, as Pompei said, next time Singletary will probably take a lesson from guys like him and keep his pants on.