A Look Back at the Chicago Bears' Draft History

In just a little over a month, many die hard fans will be glued to their television screens (a 55" HD myself) to watch their favorite football teams retool and rebuild in this year's NFL draft.

Coaches and general managers will be spending countless hours in the war room trading picks, evaluating talent, looking over depth chart needs, and searching for that diamond in the rough.

But sadly, for my beloved Chicago Bears, this year will be the same old story.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results."

In a nut shell, that explains our General Manager. 

That cute, little, red-nosed devil you see in the picture above goes by the name of Jerry Angelo.

Jerry came aboard the Bears' organization in the summer of 2001. Many Bears fans were excited to finally see some changes and possibly put the team in a new direction.

That excitement over time has quickly turned to hatred.

Many Bears fans, including myself, over the past few months, have been irate at the fact that our team has many holes and yet the Man in charge has done nothing to fix them. He continues to depend (or gamble) on draft picks to solve the answer.

In the midst of free agency, Jerry has been in a comatose like stage watching players fill needs for other teams. Now I'll be the first one to say that free agency does not cure all of our problems; however, it's a start. 

In this article, we will look at the draft history of the Chicago bears under the tutelage of Jerry Angelo: Players we drafted and players we could have potentially drafted. I'll also assign Jerry an overall draft grade.

I will spare you the feeling of regurgitating your last meal by not going further into draft history by mentioning names like: Curtis Enis, Rashaan Salaam, and Cade McNown.

That would be cruel and unusual punishment.

So as we embark on another draft journey in the upcoming weeks, let us remember this St. Patrick's Day and hope that a little luck of the Irish rubs off on Jerry Angelo for the upcoming NFL draft.

 

Without further ado, let's begin with Jerry's first NFL draft.

2002-Chicago Bears Draft

RND    SEL#     PLAYER                     POSITION         SCHOOL                          

1          29         MARC COLOMBO         T                     BOSTON COLLEGE

3          72         ROE WILLIAMS            GB                  TUSKEGE

3          93         TERRENCE METCALF   G                     MISSISSIPPI

4          104       ALEX BROWN               DE                  FLORIDA

5          140       BOBBY GRAY               DB                  LOUISIANA TECH

5          165       BRYAN KNIGHT            DE                  PITTSBURGH

6          199       ADRIAN PETERSON     RB                  GEORGIA SOUTHERN

6          203       JAMIN ELLIOTT           WR                  DELAWARE

6          210       BRYAN FLETCHER      TE                    UCLA

 

Jerry's first pick—Marc Colombo

Colombo barely saw the field because of injuries with his stay in Chicago. Colombo was finally waived after the season opener in 2005.

 

Players still on active roster

Adrian Peterson

He can be a solid third-down back and special-teams player, but has played his entire career in the shadows of other backs and has only managed to rack up 1,232 yards in his stay with the Bears.

Alex Brown

Only missed missed one game in his entire career in 2002. Alex has 327 total tackles with six sacks and one INT in '08.

 

Notable Players Jerry passed on

Deshaun Foster, Clinton Portis, Deion Branch-Second round

(I know we didn't have a second-round pick that year, but these players would have been a better choice with our first pick.)

Brian Westbrook-third round

David Garrard-fourth round

Chester Taylor-sixth round

 

2003-Chicago Bears Draft

RND    SEL#     PLAYER                     POSITION         SCHOOL 

1         14          Michael Haynes      DE                     Penn State

1         22          Rex Grossman        QB                     Florida

2         35          Charles Tillman       CB                    Louisiana-Lafayette

3         68          Lance Briggs           OLB                  Arizona

4         100        Todd Johnson         DB                     Florida

4         116        Ian Scott                  DT                     Florida

5         139        Bobby Wade           WR                    Arizona

5         143       Justin Gage              WR                    Missouri

5         171        Tron Lafavor            DT                     Florida

6         191        Joe Odom                LB                      Purde

6         206        Brock Forsey          RB                       Boise State

7         261        Bryan Anderson     G                        Pittsburgh

 

Jerry's first pick—Michael Haynes

Haynes spent three seasons with the Bears and recorded only 22 total tackles and a whooping two sacks his rookie season. He finished with 5.5 total sacks in his stink with Chicago.

 

Jerry's second first round pick—Rex Grossman

70.2 career QB rating, 33 career TD's with 35 INT'S...do you really want me to go on?

 

Players Still On Active Roster

Charles Tillman

Peanut has shown he can be a  productive player ( when healthy). Tillman has played only one full season with Chicago without injury (2003). He has 15 career forced fumbles with the Bears and recorded three Interceptions in 2008.

Lance Briggs

JBriggs was the first solid pick of Jerry's draft career. Lance is a pro-bowl player who racked up 110 tackles in 2008 with 90 of them being solo. Lance is a great compliment to Urlacher who is not afraid of contact.

 

Notable Players Jerry passed on

Troy Polamalu, Nnamdi Asomugha-First round  (That one hurts just typing it)

Anquan Boldin, Osi Umenyiora-Second round

Jason Witten-Third round

Asante Samuel-Fourth round

 

Jerry's first Free Agent splash......( Drum-roll Please)

Kordell Stewert. Yes, Bears fans, as sadly as we can remember "Slash" was signed to a two-year $5 million deal...and yes we all know how that went.

 

2004-Chicago Bears Draft

RND    SEL#     PLAYER                     POSITION         SCHOOL 

1         14          Tommie Harris        DT                     Oklahoma

2         47           Tank Johnson         DT                      Washinton

3         78           Bernard Berrian     WR                     Fresno State

4         110         Nathan Vasher       CB                    Texas

4         112         Leon Joe                  LB                     Maryland

5         147        Claude Harriott       DE                     Pittsburgh

5         148        Craig Krenzel           QB                    Ohio State

7         215        Alfonso Marshall      CB                    Miami (Fla)

 

Jerry's first pick—Tommie Harris

Harris has shown that he can be a dominant defensive player in the NFL when he is not battling knee problems. Tommie has 178 career tackles with the Bears and registered five sacks in 14 games in 2008.

 

Players Still On Active Roster

Nathan Vasher

Vasher is another player who has shown signs of being a dominant player in the NFL when he is not plagued with injuries. Vasher has 151 career tackles but only registered 21 tackles and one INT in the eight games he played in last season.

 

Biggest Bust

Craig Krenzel

In the five games he started for us, Krenzel had 59 completions out of an amazing 127 attempts. Krenzel racked up an un-holy 52.5 QB rating with three TD's and six INT'S.

 

Ain't It Funny?

Hey Bears fans? Remember the game against the Vikings last year when Berrian smoked us for a 99-yard touchdown run?? Gotta love that Angelo.

 

Notable Players Jerry passed on

Bob Sanders, Chris Snee-second Round

Jared Allen-fourth Round

Michael Turner-fifth Round

Willie Parker, Wes Welker, James Harrison-Undrafted

 

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