Chicago Bears’ 7-Round Mock Draft Following Week 1 of Free Agency
Published by Luke Gorham on March 17, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
With a week of free agency under the NFL‘s belt, the Chicago Bears‘ draft needs are coming into clearer focus. Prior to free agency, with the expectation that Julius Peppers would be released and no guarantee that general manager Phil Emery would sign a reliable replacement, defensive end was looming large as an area of need.
Instead, Emery signed two starting-caliber defensive ends: a run-stuffer in Lamarr Houston a pass-rusher in Willie Young. While both bring risks with them to Chicago—Young has only one year of meaningful playing time, while Houston has questions about his ability to get to the quarterback as a right end—they come with enough expectations to indicate that defensive end likely won’t be a targeted position early in the draft.
The fuzziness of the pre-free-agency offseason period is slowly dissipating as roster holes are being filled and intentions of the front office are being gleaned from impact signings (or in some cases, failed negotiations). This also means that the holes that remain are more glaring.
For the Bears, those areas include the interior of the defensive line and the secondary at large, with depth needed across the board. With that in mind, let’s take a realistic, non-wishful-thinking, no-Aaron Donald-in-the-second-round look at what a full seven-round draft for the Bears could look like come draft weekend.
