MOBILE, Ala. — The unofficial (but pretty much official) kickoff to the 2020 NFL Draft process began this week at the Senior Bowl, which is annually held in Mobile, Alabama. A full week of measurements, drills, interviews, practices, videos and hyper-analysis all culminated into today’s actual Senior Bowl game.
This week and the game are important in the prospect evaluation process, and they give the North side and South side coaches — this year, it was Zac Taylor (Cincinnati) and Matt Patricia (Detroit) — an up-close look at the seniors, the chance to coach them, and to start formulating their draft boards a bit.
The Chicago Bears’ contingent of Ryan Pace, Matt Nagy, and others were also down in Mobile, watching the players, interviewing prospects, and taking notes. Among the notable players they interviewed at included TE prospects Brycen Hopkins, Jared Pinkney, and Adam Trautman. And today’s game was the cherry on top of a full week of evaluations.
I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations on the Senior Bowl and as they relate to the Bears. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
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Thoughts and Observations
1. Other than QB, the Bears absolutely need to figure out the TE position this offseason. And one of the names that stood out early in this game? Adam Trautman. Brycen Hopkins and Cole Kmet are the widely known top TEs in the draft, and Trautman comes from Dayton. Yes, a small school. Sure, Trautman dominated competition there, and reportedly looked really good in practices all week. If he’s shown well enough to have teams value him highly, then he could be a serious contender for the Bears in the second round, perhaps.
A small-school TE named Adam. What could go wrong! But if he happens to pan out, he could be a great fit in the Bears’ offense.
2. Draft Bradlee Anae. Holy hell that guy is a one-man wrecking crew. He absolutely abused the OTs when Jalen Hurts was playing QB for the South. He generated back-to-back drive-killing sacks and then on the next drive, he quickly blew past his OT to force an awful decision and INT from Hurts. This dude is an impressive EDGE.
3. Speaking of Jalen Hurts, he showed he is exactly the QB I thought he was — a runner who can occasionally throw, but usually can’t. He is not the QB Chicago needs. Please stop connecting him to the Bears.
4. I came into this week with a positive impression of Michigan QB Shea Patterson. His tape showed me much more positive than negative (NFL QB trait-wise), and I was confident he’d start to make a name for himself at the Senior Bowl. Alas, he had some rough practices and a rough Senior Bowl game, highlighted by a BRUTAL interception over the middle of the field, one drive after he hit a deep wheel route for a touchdown. His stock has taken a major hit for me.
I wouldn’t be opposed to the Bears perhaps taking a late-round flier on him (and certainly consider him if he goes undrafted), but the shine is gone for me. It’s not about the production as much as it is demonstrating NFL throw capability. He didn’t do that this week.
5. Brycen Hopkins is good, folks. If he’s there in the second round, bring him to Chicago. If the Bears get out of the second round with Hopkins and Anae? Holy hell.
6. I’m not saying if they should or shouldn’t, but if the Bears want to bring in competition for Eddy Pineiro at kicker, Tyler Bass has been impressive at the Senior Bowl. He’d be an intriguing name to bring to camp. (I like Pineiro and think he has a bright future. But competition never hurt anyone.)
7. What I’ve learned about many of these QBs is that they have a lot of raw talent (arm strength, mobility, etc.) but many of them lack brains. Whether it’s pre-snap defense identification, or post-snap field processing, holy hell these QBs are works in progress there. And some of them make the decision to release the ball even though they shouldn’t Why?!?!
Whoever the Bears bring in next at QB has to be SMART. Raw talent alone isn’t enough. At that point, they’re better off rolling with Mitch.
8. Anthony Gordon, though, is an intriguing QB. He doesn’t have the raw, physical talent that everyone falls in love with when evaluating draft prospects. But he can certainly execute the offense. He threw a beauty of a touchdown pass on 4th down to put the North up 31-10.
9. Steven Montez is bad. He’s a no-go for me. I don’t want him anywhere near the Bears — no matter the round or UDFA status.
10. Troy Pride Jr. is an excellent prospect at CB. He has good instincts and mirrors receivers well. The Bears could use someone like him opposite Kyle Fuller, especially with Prince Amukamara a likely cut candidate. The Bears do like Kevin Toliver, but you can never have too many quality cornerbacks.
11. I’m not sure where Memphis keeps getting all these exciting skill players, but Antonio Gibson is fun and impressive. He really reminds me of Cordarrelle Patterson a bit (though Gibson is an RB) — the Bears would do well to add someone like Gibson to their backfield. He’s an auto-upgrade over Ryan Nall.
12. Overall, plenty to like from this game. Generally, non-seniors dominate draft day. But there are plenty of prospects that showed up this week in the senior pool. This is why the draft process is so exciting — good players can literally be found anywhere and at any age. It figures to be an exciting few months until the NFL Draft in April.
