Cody Whitehair in 2nd

[fleet]

The Chicago Bears traded down twice in the second round on Friday night at the NFL Draft, but they finally ended up making a selection as they picked offensive guard Cody Whitehair out of Kansas State.
Whitehair, who was originally projected as a late first round pick, will provide instant competition on the Bears’ offensive line, with rumors swirling that the team could be looking to move players like Matt Slauson in a trade.


Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Bears-Make-Pick-in-Second-Round-of-NFL-Draft-377652631.html#ixzz47Gh1PIO2
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http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Bears-Make-Pick-in-Second-Round-of-NFL-Draft-377652631.html

[Electric Slim]

Can't complain. Most mocks have him in the 30s and 40s. And did we get two 4th rounders out of this? Or three even technically?

[City of Trees]

PFF graded White hair +33.0 in run blocking, highest for any left tackle ... Can see how good he will be a guard. Love the pick. You win in the trenches.

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[Dominator83]

I don't mind the pick at all. Moved down 15 spots in exchange for 3 extra 4th round picks? That's a good haul.

What I didn't like was the result of the initial trade down resulted in getting likely cockblocked by the Packers of all teams. But atleast looks like a good plan b. The announce crew all liked this guys strength and smarts. Also were raving about the fact that this guys shows up to work. Missed 1 game his whole college career.

[TNBT]

I'm very happy with this pick. The kid is a professional, puts in work and seems like a plug-and-play type from day 1. The big question it raises though is how does this change the makeup of the Oline? Does he start at C over Grasu? Does he start at G and Slauson is moved or Long moves to LT? Or do we just plug Whitehair in at LT? Or does he sit for a while as a reserve while we sort out the rest of the line? Then on top of that, how do Larsen and Manny fit in now?

It just opens up so many alternatives and questions about the lineup next season and unless we trade someone, I don't think we'll really know one way or the other until camp.


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[Jake0890]

Great move to trade down to stack up on 4th rounders and still get this guy.

[fleet]

Can't complain. Most mocks have him in the 30s and 40s. And did we get two 4th rounders out of this? Or three even technically?

Which is going to be a baseline difference from these guys and Emery/Trestman. Assume both administrations wanted to draft Spriggs in round 2. Pace gambled and lost on target Spriggs when he traded down originally, trying to get an extra 4th rounder. So Pace again traded down and then drafted Whitehair. Emery would have simply taken Spriggs with the original #2 position, because he fixates on players and is willing to reach for them. But I imagine Pace had Whitehair with a closely similar grade as Spriggs, and was fine working with the fallback position of Whitehair plus additional selections in the 4th. Pace is an operator.

No point to this point other than to take another gratuitous shot at dead horse Emery.

[fleet]

I'm very happy with this pick. The kid is a professional, puts in work and seems like a plug-and-play type from day 1. The big question it raises though is how does this change the makeup of the Oline? Does he start at C over Grasu? Does he start at G and Slauson is moved or Long moves to LT? Or do we just plug Whitehair in at LT? Or does he sit for a while as a reserve while we sort out the rest of the line? Then on top of that, how do Larsen and Manny fit in now?

It just opens up so many alternatives and questions about the lineup next season and unless we trade someone, I don't think we'll really know one way or the other until camp.

Let us start with the Bears desire to play better at left tackle. We can assume this, because they targeted Spriggs in the second round.

I think they prefer to have Cody at guard backing up Slauson, and/or beating out Slauson, or moving Slauson to center. This will assume Leno can hold down left tackle. However, before they can implement it, they will see if Whitehair is a better left tackle than Leno. That is a wide open question. They drafted Cody Whitehair to play guard, but like Moon says, the best 5 will start this year.

The only way Long plays left tackle is if Leno and Whitehair both do not play adequately there. Which is certainly possible.

[clancyphile]

Or, you have Whitehaur and Slauson at guard, Grasu at center, and Long and Massie at tackle...

[City of Trees]

That will depend on Grassu's progression. Slauson to Center is always a possibility. Long and Whitehair at guard. Massie and Leno at Tackle... I gotta think LT will be top priority next offseason.

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[RedBulls23]

I would be surprised if Long played anywhere but RG. Especially considering how big of a deal Kyle made about it. He recruited Massie and was stocked knowing he was going back to RG.

[transplant]

As we all know, there are no sure things in the draft and the further into the draft you get, the more true this becomes. This said, Whitehair seems to be about as sure a late 2nd-rounder as you'll find. He has less bust potential than Floyd has.

As the smoke is clearing, Leno's success is critical. The coaching staff seems to have a lot of confidence in him. I don't share this confidence in Leno, but I do have confidence in Fox and his staff. Looks like I'll just have to get comfortable with this.

[TNBT]

I think transplant hit the nail on the head there. The staff seem very confident in Leno's ability to handle the LT spot, now I know a lot of fans don't share that confidence, but the current staff here have earned our trust and faith in what they see in a player.

That said, it still wouldn't surprise me to see a LT targeted early in next years draft, but for now it seems they're perfectly happy with Leno doing that job. With Slauson gone now, I'm picturing a lineup like this:

LT - Leno
LG - Whitehair
C - Grasu
RG - Long
RT - Massie

With Larsen backing up both guard spots, and Ramirez backing up C and guard. That leaves Becton and Fabulous backing up the tackles.


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