This 2019 offseason is going to be a challenge for the Chicago Bears. For the first time, GM Ryan Pace will have a significant cap on available resources with which he can use to upgrade his roster. He’ll have less than $20 million with which to handle 14 in-house free agents and free agency itself. If that weren’t enough, prior trades have resulted in them having a scant five pick in the NFL draft. None in the 1st or 2nd round.
This means Pace will have to work extra hard this year if he wants to get some quality talent out of this class. It’s hard enough to score hits in the later rounds when a team has high picks to fall back on. The Bears have no such safety net this time. They really would prefer not to look at this coming year as a throwaway draft simply because they didn’t have the “important” selections.
Every pick will be important this year, which means the Bears have to make sure they know everything possible about the players they may actually have a chance to get. It seems they’ve gotten off to an early start down at the East-West Shrine game practices as reports surfaced they’ve chosen to meet with two players thus far.
Team-Prospect meetings Day2 of #ShrineWeek
(East):
LB Ulysees Gilbert: NYG, CAR, HOU, GB
LB Sione Takitaki: MIN, DEN, WAS, MIA, DAL
OT Lamont Gillard: ATL, BAL, NYJ, CHI
OT Oli Udoh: NYG, NYJ, PIT, TEN, GB, PHI
WR Jesper Horsted: TB, TEN, ATL
WR DaMarkus Lodge: NO, WAS— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) January 15, 2019
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Team-Prospect meetings Day2 of #ShrineWeek
(West continued):
OT Alex Bookser: NYJ, CAR
CB Montre Hartage: CAR
S Tyree Kinnel: MIA
LB Chris Peace: WAS, ARI
LB Justin Hollins: LAR, LAC
CB Blace Brown: LAC, MIA
S Andrew Wingard: BUF
WR KeeSean Johnson: CHI
OT Brian Wallace: PHI, NYG— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) January 15, 2019
Chicago Bears NFL draft focus seems to be leaning offense early
It’s probably too soon to read into such things but the fact that both their meetings are with offensive players is interesting. Not surprising either. The Bears defense is the best in football. The offense is not. It’s obvious where more help might be needed. While LaMont Gaillard is listed as a tackle, he’s actually a center and a guard. That’s where he played during his run at Georgia.
While undersized at 6’2, he’s been dominating practices thus far with his nasty temperament and strong technique in pass protection. Not hard to see why the Bears would be interested along with several other teams. However, the more interesting fish may be KeeSean Johnson.
As a senior for Fresno State in 2018, he caught 95 passes for 1,340 yards and eight touchdowns. He sports a thicker 6’2 frame with a wide wingspan and stands out for both his quickness and his strong hands. Another thing that sticks out is how physical he’s able to play with defensive backs.
It’s no surprise the Bears would target somebody like him. The general feeling is their receivers got pushed around too much against Philadelphia in the playoffs. Adding receivers who can play just as physical makes sense, especially if they understand how to run routes. Johnson does. If he’s still in the mix come the 3rd or 4th round, don’t be surprised if they pull the trigger. The kid has game.
