NFL Draft 2011: Chicago Bears 10 Best Late-Round Picks Since 2000
Published by Joseph Higgins on April 30, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Some NFL teams find their greatest talent in the last few rounds on the NFL draft. Take the New England Patriots for instance—perhaps their greatest quarterback of all time was taken in the sixth round (the 199th pick is now the acclaimed Tom Brady Pick.)
Other great NFLers that have been taken late consist of the Denver Broncos’ Terrell Davis (sixth round), the New Orleans Saints’ Marques Colston (seventh round) and the Chicago Bears’ own Richard Dent (eighth round).
Chicago has had their fair share of late round picks as well since the year 2000. In some cases, most of their talent at particular positions has come from picks in the second or third day.
Naturally, the projected “best player” that a team drafts will come from their first pick. Why would they use the top pick to bring in a questionable player?
In my opinion, a team’s true talent comes from everything after the first round—a player like Cam Newton can’t completely change a team, can he?
Also, players picked in the first round don’t always turn out to be who we thought they were (not trying to quote Dennis Green here). It is more disappointing when a player like Cedric Benson, in the Bears’ case, gets picked high and flakes out.
It wouldn’t have hurt so much if he was taken later in the draft—at least if a fourth or fifth round pick doesn’t work out so well it isn’t really considered a “bust.”
The best picks that are going to follow this slide are ones that come from the fourth round all the way to the seventh round and are in no particular order.
