The first day of the 2008 NFL Draft is now over, as teams are flying through rounds 3-8 at this very moment. With the first six picks, all six prospects invited to New York were selected. Miami, as expected, picked Jake Long (OT, Michigan) with the first pick. Following that, other marquee names like Chris Long, Matt Ryan, and Darren McFadden all came off the board. With the 14th pick, the Bears found themselves staring at a plethora of Offensive Tackles; the position they were in most need of drafting. They took Chris Williams, from Vanderbilt. Now, I believe that this was a good pick: it is what they needed most and Williams was one of the top rated guys. Jeff Otah(Pitt), Branden Albert(Virginia), and Gosder Cherilus(BC) were still available, but it is really hard to distinguish a big difference between them and Williams. After this pick, however, is when the interesting moves started happening. Most experts had power RB Rashard Mendenhall, from the University of Illinois, going to either Detroit, Arizona, or even Carolina; however, he fell out of the Top 20 to Pittsburgh at #23. This, while a great pick by Pittsburgh, was a place the Bears could have jumped in. Between the Bears #14 pick of Chris Williams and Pittburgh's #23 pick of Mendenhall, there were five teams trading up or down. With these teams so willing to trade, the Bears should have traded one of their 3rd rounders, and whatever else necessary, to move up and grab that elite, power back they wanted. Instead, they stood pat and waited to Rd.2 to get Matt Forte, from Tulane. Now Forte may be a good pro, and all of these moves cannot be judged until they perform in the NFL, however there were better options available. Now, to Rd.2 is where some other big moves (or lack therof) happened that could come back to bite the Bears. When the Bears selected Forte at pick #13 in Rd.2, can you guess who else was on the board? What is the Bears biggest weakenss, and glaring hole? If you said wide receiver, then you are correct! At the Bears second round pick, many elite, first round talents were still on the board. Among them, DeSean Jackson (the California speedster with Devin Hester-syle elusiveness and return game), Malcom Kelly (the OU prospect), and Limas Sweed (the 6'3" wideout who was Vince Young's favorite toy at Texas). So while I think Willimas was a solid pick, even though there might have been other options available, the Bears could have done so much more the rest of the day. They had the option to take Mendenhall, Sweed, Jackson, Kelly, or even Brian Brohm (who went to the Pack) or Chad Henne. Now we look forward to a good second day, where the picks are flying in. The Bears have 7 more picks today, possibly allowing them to take a chance on a couple big name guys that performed in the NCAA-ranks.
First, here is what I would have done on Day 1:
Rd.1-Chris Williams, OT Vanderbilt (Jeff Otah, Gosder Cherilus, Branden Albert all would have been good picks here, too)
Rd.1-Rashard Mendenhall, RB Illinois (trade a 3rd rounder and whatever else-late rounder, pick next year...to get an elite back who fell a bit)
Rd.2-Limas Sweed, WR Texas (with Mendenhall already taken care of, the Bears could have taken a great WR prospect in Rd.2 to really shore up that offense. Having a speedster like Hester on one side, and a 6'3" receiver on the other would have been great...also could have picked DeSean Jackson for two Hester types which is not a bad thing)
Now, here is what the Bears actually did so far today:
Rd.3-Earl Bennett, WR Vanderbilt
Rd.3-Marcus Harrison, DT Arkansas
Rd.4-Craig Steltz, S LSU
Some key players the Bears should be taking a look at today are prospects at Safety and Quarterback. At safety, guys like DJ Wolfe(OU), Marcus Griffin(Texas), DJ Parker (VA Tech), and Joshua Barrett(ASU) are all guys from big name schools, who performed at the NCAA-level. At QB, there are some interesting options for the Bears. When picking in the later rounds, you can get a guy that you won't need to be committed to for the long-term, so they can take more of a chance. In my opinion, they should take a chance on guys like Andre Woodson, Dennis Dixon, or Colt Brennan. These guys put up big numbers, and led their teams far in the college football season. Dennis Dixon has been rehabbing in Oregon's spacious training facility, sponsored by Nike, and was a Heisman front-runner before getting injured. Andre Woodson had Kentucky in the BCS picture late in the season, and is a big-arm guy, while Colt Brennan set records for NCAA touchdown passes, and knows how to win. We'll see what happens today, but regardless, the draft can get you some big-time NFL players and help fill your holes very efficiently. Here are some teams that I think got it right in the first few rounds:
Kansas City Chiefs--Glenn Dorsey, Branden Albert, Brandon Flowers, and Jamaal Charles
Pittsburgh Steelers--Rashard Mendenhall, Limas Sweed (give Ben some new weapons, in addition to Willie Parker, Hines Ward, and Santonio Holmes)
San Diego Chargers-Antoine Cason, Jacob Hester (very productive getting a marquee corner and backup RB to fill their losses)
Washington Redskins--Devin Thomas, Fred Davis, Malcom Kelly (gives Jason Campbell three receiving weapons that are all top-rated prospects)
Atlanta Falcons--Matt Ryan, Sam Baker, Curtis Lofton (fill a lot of needs with top-tier players...get a new face at QB and someone to protect him...by the way, when Michael Vick comes out of jail, the Bears should sign him for low-risk, high-reward)
Arizona Cardinals--Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Calais Campbell, Early Doucet
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