5 NFL teams that must have an excellent draft
By Andrew Garda
It’s an interesting—and perhaps disconcerting—time to be a fan of the Chicago Bears.
After the failed Marc Trestman experiment, the Bears did a 180 and went the ‘old and retread coach’ path by bringing in former Denver Broncos coach John Fox. Fox lost no time before trading Brandon Marshall, saying goodbye to Stephen Paea and Chris Conte and signing six defensive players in the hopes of rebooting a defense which was hard to watch last season.
Of course, he still has the mercurial Jay Cutler under center and while Alshon Jeffery is a tremendous receiver, dumping Marshall has left the cupboard bare of game-changing receivers behind him. Jeffery is a talent, of that there is no doubt, but he may struggle as the sole target of defensive concern.
With the No. 7 pick of the draft—as well as the rest of their six picks—the Bears will have to choose between continuing to repair the defense and adding to the offense. That’s most critical with that first pick though, as the top shelf of both areas will be gone before the Bears pick in the second round.
Do they grab a player like Amari Cooper or Kevin White to give Jeffery some help? Or do they grab someone like outside linebacker Vic Beasley or defensive end Shane Ray?
Which way do Fox and new GM Ryan Pace go? Also, we have to consider that new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio favors a 3-4 base and the Bears don’t fit that very well, so a nose tackle isn’t out of the question.
Given how much work the team has to do in order to fit that 3-4, I expect this to be a heavy defensive draft. Whether or not they go defense early, they have to spend a lot of those six picks on it, getting that nose tackle as well as pass rushing help at linebacker and some help in the secondary, specifically safety.
If they fail to get the right players, this could be a very ugly year for the defense again to go with an offense that has some concerns as well.
Next: St. Louis Rams