This time of year people are scrambling for every scrap of draft knowledge they can get their hands on. The 2017 NFL draft is still three weeks away but the pro days and evaluations are all but over. One overriding question hasn’t changed in that time span. Will the Chicago Bears draft quarterback in the early rounds?
It is an idea that they haven’t flatly denied nor confirmed. Per the usual shtick, GM Ryan Pace is maintaining a fog of unknown around his plans for his biggest event of the year. Nobody can say with 100% certainty they know what the Bears are going to do. So many names have been considered for the #3 overall pick at this point that it’s a guessing game.
However, prominent draft analyst Matt Miller of Bleacher Report may have just delivered some much-needed clarification. Not so much on who exactly the Bears will draft at that spot. Instead he offered a window into which direction they’ll go. It came via a high ranking executive regarding the quarterback class.
“A director of player personnel dropped this bombshell while talking with me this week: “I don’t think that run on quarterbacks is gonna happen early. I think it happens in the 20s.”
What!?
This might sound crazy, but after I digested this thought, it’s really not. No team in the top five is connected to the top quarterbacks. In fact, every franchise in the top 10 that had a need at the position solidified its quarterback situation through free agency except for the Cleveland Browns, and they’re drafting Myles Garrett No. 1 overall.”
The Bears draft quarterback storyline shifts
Barring something unforeseen, this should all but quash any ideas that the Bears will consider a QB at #3 overall. So unless they plan to trade down from that spot, it’s going to be a different position. Most likely one on the defensive side. That is where the talent is heaviest. Maybe another standout defensive lineman like Jonathan Allen or Solomon Thomas. Or perhaps the hot names in the secondary like cornerback Marshon Lattimore or safeties Jamal Adams and Malik Hooker.
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At the same time this increases the possibility that Chicago might have a shot at getting one of the top four quarterbacks early in the second round. Already there is talk that DeShone Kizer of Notre Dame could fall that far. Maybe one of the others might follow. Then again it also presents Ryan Pace with the possibility of jumping back into the first round for one of them. Perhaps if Deshaun Watson fell to a certain point he might consider it.
For many Bears fans this is the ideal scenario. Take the best possible defender at #3 and then having one of the top quarterbacks fall to within striking distance. Thus the defense gets another youth injection and the team gets its potential franchise signal caller of the future. As usual the draft is an unpredictable monster. Still, this could definitely work out in their favor barring an unexpected change to the board.
