It’s that time of year! The time where the weather is finally above freezing, people are finally putting away their winter coats and pulling out the shorts and short-sleeved shirts (even though it’s 40 degrees) and NFL Draft season is upon us.
Hand-in-hand with NFL Draft season are mock drafts. Mock drafts serve the purpose of educating fans on players that their teams could be looking at come late April. Most mock drafts will never get the players right, or know exactly what NFL Teams are thinking, but they allow the fan the chance to learn about players that they may have never heard of before.
Below is a 7-round Mock Draft for the Chicago Bears using Fanspeak.com’s platform. The Bears have 7 picks in this year’s draft and this mock will not project trades.
Round 1: Tremaine Edmunds (Virginia Tech, ILB)
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Sitting at #8, the mock draft fell exactly how Bears fans don’t want it to. Quenton Nelson went to the Colts at #6 and Bradley Chubb went off the board at #5. However, Tremaine Edmunds is hardly a consolation prize.
He’s an inside linebacker that also has the tools to rush the passer. He’s 6’5”, 253 lbs. and is only 19 years old right now. He’s the type of player that Vic Fangio would love to utilize in his defense as he can move all around the field and is a solid tackler.
Plus, at only 19, he’s still growing into his body. The sky is the limit with Edmunds in a Chicago Bears uniform.
Round 2: James Daniels (Iowa, C)
The Bears have said that they draft on Best Player Available and will not reach for a need. It just so happened that the first two selections for the Bears fill their two biggest needs; Linebacker and Offensive Line.
James Daniels is as good of a center prospect as they come. NFL Draft Experts love him and the Bears are surprised to still see him here on the board. He’s 6’3”, 295 lbs. and is extremely fluid in his movements. He brings upside as both a pass blocker and run blocker as well, as he’s only 20 years old.
He’ll start from Day One and push Whitehair back over to Left Guard. The Bears Offensive Line just became a huge strength of the team again with this selection.
Round 4: Jeff Holland (Auburn, OLB)
As it stands, the Bears still need pass-rushers on the roster and they find a potential difference-maker here in the 4th Round. Jeff Holland is a relentless pass-rusher who wins on determination and aggression 95% of the time.
He’s smart and knows how to play his position well. Give him to a coach like Fangio and rotate him in with Edmunds and Lynch opposite Floyd and the Bears could cause some havoc in 2018. He needs to get into the weight room in the offseason and show that he wants to be great, but the traits are there. For a 4th round pick, you’re looking for upside and Holland could bring it.
Round 4: Keke Coutee (Texas Tech, WR)
With the Bears attacking the WR need in Free Agency, they are able to take a flier on a player here in the 4th round. Keke Coutee screams the kind of player that would excel in Matt Nagy’s offense. Incredible speed that can take the top off the defense, quick twitch and can easily separate. All principles that Nagy’s offense requires for a wideout.
He’s small, only 5’11” and 180 lbs., so that’s why he drops here to the 4th Round. But he put up huge numbers in Texas Tech’s “air it out” offense, finishing with 1,429 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in 2017.
He’s electric and would fit right in with this offensive scheme. There might not be a better spot for him in the entire league than in Chicago wearing blue and orange.
Round 5: Royce Freeman (Oregon, RB)
This one just makes too much sense. Royce Freeman, a Running Back prospect from Oregon, gets drafted by the team that just hired his former college coach as their OC.
Mark Helfrich should be banging on the tables for Royce Freeman to come in and back up Jordan Howard. Tarik Cohen is never going to be the player that will carry the ball 20 times if Jordan Howard were to ever go down with an injury, but Freeman could be.
In a round where the Bears have had success finding a running back before, they could get equally as lucky again. The Bears offense wouldn’t skip a beat if Howard were to go down and Freeman can rotate in even when Howard’s healthy and keep the offense rolling.
Round 6: Tony Brown (Alabama, CB)
In the 6th round, you’re starting to look for players that will start on Special Teams with the possibility to grow into more. Tony Brown is about as stellar of a Special Teams player that you’re going to find here in the 6th round.
Solid against the run, but never going to be a player that has 4+ interceptions a year, Brown will come in and lead a Special Teams unit all day long. He has experience as a gunner on the punt team and is often one of the first players to make the tackle on kick returns. (A.K.A The Young Sherrick McManis)
Oh yeah, and he ran a 4.35 40 yard dash at the combine. And he loves to hit. With his scrappy attitude and passion for the game, he’s someone who will immediately bring some juice to the city of Chicago.
Round 7: Michael Joseph (Dubuque, CB)
Does anything scream more of a Ryan Pace pick than taking a player out of DIII Dubuque-Iowa? Michael Joseph is incredibly raw, but flashed upside playing against his level of competition. He still needs to learn the game and coming from DIII to the NFL is going to take some time to transition. But as a 7th round pick, the Bears can afford to wait on Joseph to develop. In the meantime, he can contribute on Special Teams and Ed Donatell can coach him up.
