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2007 Bears Draft Overview
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:07 pm
by Posey H8er
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:11 pm
by SportsWorld
Overall a good draft. We filled our needs and selected our first tight end since Mike Ditka over 40 years ago. Olsen is going to be a great player and I can't wait to watch him.
We drafted 2 CB's in-a-row which confuses me since we have some good CB's.
Overall I give us a B-.
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:04 pm
by Posey H8er
According to that site, Beekman is the 3rd best OG in the country.
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:29 pm
by IVSKIN
Overall I am pretty happy with the draft. Angelo is pretty reliable in draft situations, so even some of the questionable picks I can handle. But I really hope he knew what he was doing grabbing Bazuin. We are quite deep at the DE position, and unless he can somehow make the move to linebacker or DT, then I really dont get this pick.
Very happy we got Olsen though.
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:55 pm
by Bulls Fan 23
I would like to sign Zabransky the QB from Boise st., bring him to camp for a looksee
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:03 am
by Pax for Prez
I guessing if Bazuin developes like JA hopes, Ogunleye days might be numbered here after this season.
I was hoping that the Bears would draft a WR to replace J. Gage.
Maybe Hester is being moved to WR with the Bears selecting 2 CBs in this draft ??
WR is one position I worry about !!
Berrian was healthly for the 1st time last season.
Bradley also has problems staying healthy.
Currie still hasn't seen the field yet.
Moose is getting up there in age.
R. Davis is average at best.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:15 pm
by waffle
This seems like a solid draft.
Funny, I just was searching for other "grades" and came across USA Today's marks for LAST year. They gave us 1 star, as in it S*CKED. Um, in retrospect it would appear that last year's draft was pretty good!
Time will tell, eh?
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:47 pm
by Cliff Levingston
waffle wrote:This seems like a solid draft.
Funny, I just was searching for other "grades" and came across USA Today's marks for LAST year. They gave us 1 star, as in it S*CKED. Um, in retrospect it would appear that last year's draft was pretty good!
Time will tell, eh?
Right.
Cliff Levingston loved how Olsen fell to us; he'll be huge for our offense. Wemanaged to grab a good G prospect although it would've been nice to grab a T.
If anything, the Bazuin pick indicates a dis-pleasure with the current crop of DE's, probably Ogunleye who hasn't fully earned his paycheck. The CB's could be picked in anticipation of not being able to re-sign one of Peanut and Vasher.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:01 pm
by blumeany
I'm not too worried about WR. If you look at Berrian for example, he hung around for a few years before finally breaking out. We have a few other guys (Bradley, Currie, etc) who could potentially do the same. also, WR's seem to be a dime a dozen, and it's hard to guestimate who will excel and who will bust. We could probably find a few decent UFAs.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:54 pm
by waffle
Olsen makes the WR's better, don't you think?
I agree, I would not be surprised to see Bradley break out this year. There is almost nothing I don't like about him, although he occasionally takes his eye of the ball.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:12 pm
by WEFFPIM
Good draft. The Bears didn't need a fantastic or mindblowing draft, a solid one would do.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:45 pm
by Posey H8er
Jerry Angelo said on the score today that Bazuin could play interior lineman, and that they think Graham will help immensly to special teams. He was also high on Beekman and Payne, as I am as well.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:03 pm
by SportsWorld
Posted: Tue May 1, 2007 1:41 am
by Posey H8er
My official grade is B. But I cannot doubt Jerry Angelo. Beekman, Payne, and Olsen = Future Pro Bowlers.
Posted: Thu May 3, 2007 1:57 pm
by Thrilho
I don't get how you give a B grade to a draft where you see 3 pro bowlers, two drafted after the 3rd round. I'm very happy with this draft, because he addressed every position I thought was a need outside of tackle. He got a linebacker he compares to Briggs. He got an end, and to be honest our ends outside of Anderson flat sucked this year. When Harris wasn't on the field they disappeared outside of a couple of instances, like Ogunleye in the NFC Championship game. I'd say with Angelo's track record these two guys are mortal locks to be pretty good players. I also like that he says that Bazuin can play inside, because we know after seeing Brown in there this year that you can't always just plug an end in at tackle on passing downs and expect him to be able to play.
Olson was a steal at 31. I thought getting a possession type pass-catcher was a need, unlike many who were very focused on WR. As long as we got a guy who either could take over Moose's spot or got a TE we'd be fine, and we got a guy who can do that and more from the TE position. I liked that they didn't go after a receiver, mostly because I like Bradley a lot and we have to give him one more year to see if he can stay healthy. Because if he does, then he is the best receiver we've got, and a potential pro bowler. Moose has one more year in him, and would be a very good third receiver if Bradley steps up.
Beekman is, from everything I've read, a road grader at guard. To me, our biggest need after linebacker was a run blocking guard to take over for Brown or unseat Garza/Metcalf. Benson is at his best running inside, so we need a guard who can open holes. The guy is a first team All-American, and was rated as the third best guard in the draft on more than one board.
I was surprised with the Garrett Wolfe selection, since I thought he'd go a bit later. But the guy is a home run hitter, and that's what we seem to be looking for in every phase of the game. I was at NIU for his last big year, and I've been following him since. He's got great hands, and we'll make a living throwing it out to him in the flat and letting him turn it on and run past people. He's got more power than you would think. I would compare him to a less polished, less physical, faster Brian Westbrook. We'll be able to split him wide and do some of the stuff I thought we might try with TJ, but he can catch it better than TJ could. The other thing I see us using him as is putting him as the up guy on kick returns to keep teams from squibbing it to Hester. He hasn't played special teams, but how hard is it to teach? Catch ball, run in space. I don't know how good a blocker he'd be on ST, though, so only time will tell if he can handle it.
Angelo seems very high on Payne, and he sounds like a real hitter. I thought if anything we'd be looking for a free safety, since we've got AA, Harris, McGowen, and if we do move Manning to corner the only FS we've got is Brown. I hope we're not too set on moving Manning, because Brown is a mortal lock to get injured at some point.
We filled all those spots, got a couple ST guys and a project speed corner, and robbed SD blind. Good draft in my world, but let's wait a few years. Side note: Kiper, for the second year in a row, gave out zero A's in his draft grades and evidently based much of it on teams taking players outside of his own value rankings. What a clown.
Edit: I should mention that I didn't mind not taking a DT. We got Anthony Adams, drafted Dvorcek last year, and Harris is ahead of schedule. Even if Tank is gone for the entire year, we've got our top 3 right there. Then, you figure Garay will play some. If Bazuin can give you a couple of snaps in there you're fine. Obviously the Bears are not terribly concerned about it, so I don't understand why that was so high on everyone's need list in the first place.
Posted: Thu May 3, 2007 3:28 pm
by tclg
I'm really excited about Wolfe. Him and Benson give us a nice combination at running back.
Posted: Thu May 3, 2007 3:50 pm
by chibearsfan
Benson 15-20 carries. Wolfe 5 carries. Peterson 5-10 carries. leaves rex to throw about 25 passes a game. nice spread
Posted: Thu May 3, 2007 4:09 pm
by tclg
I think we might save benson for later in the game once we have some leads. Mixing it up on each drive to keep the defense on its toes
Posted: Thu May 3, 2007 4:11 pm
by Thrilho
I think Benson should get between 25 and 30 carries a game, and top 30 carries at least 4 or 5 times. He's a workhorse back who thrives on wearing down the other team. Peterson could get maybe 5-7, with Wolfe mostly taking passes out of the backfield and a couple draws. I guess it all depends on how the coaching staff views the two guys and how high they are on Wolfe's rushing ability.
One other thing about Wolfe that I wanted to mention. A lot of people looked at the second half of this past year where he was shut down a bunch of times (games of 25, 28, 45, 54, and 66 yards), and wondered what happened. The biggest reason for his slow down was that NIU stopped using his versatility. He was trying to break the single season rushing record, so they would just keep rushing him play after play rather than mixing him in as a receiver. Their passing attack was awful, so it was 9 guys in the box trying to stop a 5'7" 180 lb running back and he had no place to go.
Posted: Thu May 3, 2007 5:24 pm
by Worm Guts
No one in the NFL gets 25-30 carries a game. Jamaal Anderson has the NFL record of 410 carries in a season. That's 25.6 carries per game.