It’s not a secret that the Chicago Bears running back conversation has dominated the discussions leading up to the draft. They’ve met with 18 such players at that position since February. While it’s not a guarantee they take one with their first pick, there is no doubt in the minds of anybody that they will take one at some point.
They may have picked the perfect year to not have a high draft choice in the 1st or 2nd rounds. Word continues to pick up that this particular class is lacking any true star-caliber types. It’s more of a solid group of mostly committee backs with various intriguing traits.
NFL.com draft expert Lance Zierlein revealed that because of this, other position groups are taking priority for other teams. This means a lot of backs could fall to the second half of Day 2.
“Running backs are shaping up to have a long wait: A popular notion has been that we should see at least three and maybe four running backs taken in the top two rounds, with Alabama’s Josh Jacobs coming off the board first and possibly in the first round. Teams seem much less excited about any running back not named Josh Jacobs, though, and that may limit the number of RBs in the first two rounds to two.”
This is great news for Chicago Bears running back search
Hearing this can only be a good thing from the Bears’ perspective. It means there is a strong chance that a number of backs who might traditionally go at the top of the 3rd round or bottom of the 2nd to fall within their range. Pace did say the team expects they’ll be able to get a good player at #87 overeall.
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Hearing this makes one think that good player will be a running back. Maybe even somebody no one expects would ever get nearly that low on the draft board. A Miles Sanders? A David Montgomery? There is no telling who it might be. Then again the Bears could use this to their advantage even further.
They might trade back into the top of the 4th round, acquire an extra pick or two and still be given a reasonable chance of getting a good back. It will be interesting to see how Pace plays this when the action starts on Friday.
