- Did the Vikings play the Browns? Hard to tell. Tampa Bay may have been threatening to move into the pick. Trent Richardson was considered to be the best prospect in the draft by some analysts.
- Why so many trades? It’s likely because there’s a rookie wage scale. Teams are a lot more likely to trade picks if they know it won’t cost them an arm and a leg in addition to draft picks.
- I’m guessing that when Tampa Bay traded back to the seventh pick they thought that they were going to get Morris Claiborne. Then Jaguars took Justin Blackmon and the Rams were likely going to go to another need position. The Cowboys probably foiled the plan when they traded up to jump ahead of the Bucs. Mark Barron is fine but there wouldn’t have been a thing wrong with Stephon Gilmore in that slot, either.
- The Eagles needed to trade ahead of the Rams at 14 because they would have grabbed Fletcher Cox in a heart beat. Nice work getting into the 12 spot by trading with Seattle.
- Bruce Irvin at 15, Seattle? Really?
- I was sure the Bears were going to go with left tackle Riley Reiff when he got past St. Louis. Instead they went with the defensive end.
- I experienced some disquiet when I saw the Lions benefit from the Bears pass to take Reiff.
- Quinton Coples fell but not too far to the Jets at 16. He’s going to be fascinating to watch. If he becomes a higher effort guy, he could be one of the best players from this draft.
- The Patriots traded up twice in the first round? Who saw that coming? I can’t say it was a bad idea, though. Chandler Jones at 21 and Dont’a Hightower at 25 were both great pickups for their defense. I’m sure Houston would have nabbed Hightower at 26 and if not them, then Baltimore later in the round. Jones was a fast riser who might not have lasted long, either.
- Shea McClellin does fit the Bears in a lot of ways. I thought the Bears might be scared off by the reported three concussions that McClellin sustained but perhaps they bought into McClellin’s denial that this was the case.
- McClellin is apparently a high motor, high effort guy who I think most Bear fans are going to like. He has the reputation of being a tweener who many thought would be a better fit as a 3-4 linebacker. Assuming he plays end with the Bears, he won’t see as many double teams with Julius Peppers on the other side. He’ll probably need work against the run.
- Pro Football Weekly has McClellin rated as going at the top of the second round.
- The Bears filled a need but was he the best player available? I have my doubts. There were a lot of high rated offensive linemen on the board that the Bears probably didn’t anticipate would be there. They used their offseason to set up to take a defensive linemen only to see Riley Reiff, David DeCastro, and Cordy Glenn fall to them. They recently signed guard Chico Rachal with the possible intention of moving Chris Williams back to tackle. I’m wondering if they might have handled their offseason differently had they known DeCastro and Reiff would be there.
Chicago Bears Draft Safety Brandon Hardin from Oregon State with 79th Pick in 3rd Round
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