You know you must’ve done something pretty good when a supporter of your arch nemesis begrudgingly admits it. The Chicago Bears undrafted free agent class is one of the biggest in the teams’ history at 22 total players. With only five pick in the draft, GM Ryan Pace wanted to make sure he gave his roster a big enough influx of young talent.
Yet it’s not just the size that drew attention from analysts around the league. It was the quality as well. Many believe the Bears scored no fewer than five players who probably should’ve been drafted including three who were talented enough to go in the top 100 picks. Perhaps undeniable confirmation that Chicago has indeed become a prime destination.
Maybe the biggest assurance of this comes from Jeremy Hoffmann. He is a writer for the Pro Football Network. That alone may not impress anybody. So how about the fact he’s a diehard Green Bay Packers fan. That’s right, the guy actually lives there. Despite all this, he admitted in a recent article that the Bears scored huge on the undrafted market.
“Players go undrafted for a reason, but Chicago Bears fans can believe in these three. Emanuel Hall, Dax Raymond, and Alex Bars could be a huge steal for the Windy City.
Plain and simple, the Chicago Bears have the best undrafted free agent class on the offensive side in the NFL.”
Chicago Bears undrafted class of 2019 is a huge training camp storyline
Normally undrafted players are nothing more than fun side stories for fans to follow during the summer and preseason before the real action begins. This might end up being one of those rare occasions where they take center stage. The top of the Bears roster is largely set in stone. Thus the competitions for the bottom half will be under the microscope.
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Hall will be in a fierce battle with other notable names at a suddenly loaded wide receiver position. Raymond also won’t have it easy at tight end. The one guy who seems to have the clearest path to a roster spot is Bars since the team only added one new guard to the depth chart in Ted Larsen. This after losing Eric Kush and Bryan Witzmann to free agency.
All three making the roster would be a tremendous thing in itself. If they each live up to the expectations many have of them? We might end up looking back on this class as one that cemented Pace as one of the top GMs in football.
