Chicago Bears 2015 Draft: The Good, the Bad and the Baffling
The Chicago Bears entered the 2015 draft with a lot of needs on both sides of the football following a disappointing 5-11 2014 season, and new general manager Ryan Pace addressed some of those needs over the course of the last few days.
Pace added to the offense with his selection of wide receiver Kevin White in the first round, and he added to the defense in the second round with the selection of defensive tackle/end Eddie Goldman. He added three more players on offense in center Hroniss Grasu, running back Jeremy Langford and tackle Tayo Fabuluje and one more on defense in safety Adrian Amos.
After the draft concluded on Saturday evening, Pace explained his draft process.
"It was really the best player available the whole way through," he said, according to the team's official Twitter account.
The Bears addressed some of their needs on both sides of the football in the draft, but while some of Pace's decisions were good, some were bad and some were baffling.
Just ahead, we will take a look at some of Chicago's best and worst decisions in this year's draft.
The Good: Drafting Kevin White
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The Bears were likely holding out hope that USC defensive end Leonard Williams would fall past the New York Jets at No. 6, but they were happy to select White with their first pick in the draft.
“Trust me, there was a lot of fist-pumping and high-fives going around when we knew this is how it was going to unfold," Pace said about White being available at No. 7, according to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune.
The Bears traded Brandon Marshall to the New York Jets earlier in the offseason and had a glaring need at the wide receiver position. They did add Eddie Royal in free agency, but he will likely play exclusively out of the slot.
There was speculation before the draft that the Bears were trying to trade Jay Cutler, but after selecting White, Pace talked about how excited he was to give Cutler another option in the passing game.
“In my mind, we just got Jay another dynamic weapon. That’s what I’m excited about it," Pace said, according to Wiederer. "I hope right now he’s fired up because we just gave him another powerful weapon. With this receiving corps, this only adds to Jay’s ability to distribute the ball.”
White will give Chicago a receiver who can take the top off opposing defenses with his speed, and he will be the perfect complement to Alshon Jeffery on the outside. He is still a bit raw and will need to work on his route running, but he will be able to come in on Day 1 and contribute in Chicago's new offense.
The Good: Bulking Up the Defensive Line by Adding Eddie Goldman
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The Bears are making the transition to a 3-4 defense in 2015, and Goldman gives the Bears flexibility along the defensive line.
He has the ability to line up at the 0-technique nose tackle position or the 5-technique defensive end position, and he has drawn comparisons to current Bears defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff.
"Goldman may not be as quick off the ball as Jay Ratliff, but their positional versatility and power foundations are very similar," wrote Bleacher Report's Matt Miller. "Like Ratliff, Goldman may be moved around and become a bit of an anchor for the defensive line."
After he was selected Friday night, Goldman talked about how he has tried to emulate Ratliff's game.
“I just liked how physical he was, and his quickness and his grit and stuff like that,” Goldman said about Ratliff, according to Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I just look forward to learning a lot from him and playing alongside him."
He struggles as a pass-rusher, but he is a two-gap player who can set the tone against the run. Despite his struggles as a pass-rusher, head coach John Fox likes Goldman.
"Very strong, great leverage, he's tough to knock out of there and he can push the pocket," Fox said on Saturday, according to Bob LeGere of the Daily Herald.
Before Goldman was drafted, the Bears had Ratliff listed as the only nose tackle on the roster, according to Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Goldman still has a ways to go with his development, but he should have a big role in Chicago's new defense at both the nose tackle and 5-technique defensive end positions in 2015.
The Bad: Drafting Hroniss Grasu over a Defensive Player in the 3rd Round
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In a surprising move, the Bears opted to take center Hroniss Grasu with their third-round pick instead of addressing a bigger area of need.
The Bears signed veteran Will Montgomery in free agency to take over for Roberto Garza at center in 2015, and while Grasu makes sense for the Bears in the future, they bypassed a handful of talented players at impact positions in the third round.
The Bears could have added a pass-rusher in UCLA's Owamagbe Odighizuwa or Virginia's Eli Harold, a cornerback in Florida State's P.J. Williams or a quarterback in Colorado State's Garrett Grayson, but they decided Grasu was a better option.
His inclusion as a "bad" pick has little to do with him as a player, as Grasu was listed as Miller's second-best center in the draft, but he is listed as a bad pick because of what the team left on the board.
The Bears are currently attempting to use former 4-3 defensive ends Jared Allen, Lamarr Houston, Willie Young and David Bass at outside linebacker in their new 3-4 defense, and they may have been better off adding someone like Odighizuwa or Harold who possess the necessary skill set to play the position.
The cornerback position is very thin behind Kyle Fuller and Tim Jennings, and the team does not have a definite starter at the quarterback position beyond this season.
In the end, the Bears did not add a pass-rusher, cornerback or quarterback in the draft, but they may look back years down the road and regret drafting a center in the third round instead of adding an impact player at a position of greater need.
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The Bad: Adding Another Late-Round Safety
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Just like Grasu, drafting Amos was not necessarily a bad selection by the Bears because he fills a position of need, but Chicago has not had luck with developing safeties taken in the later rounds of the draft over the course of the last 15 years.
Since 2000, the Bears have selected 14 safeties in the draft, and only Mike Brown—taken in the second round of the 2000 draft—had reasonable success with the team.
Guys like Mike Green, Bobby Gray, Todd Johnson and Al Afalava were all mid-round picks of the Bears, but none of them panned out in Chicago.
It is unfair to judge Amos' selection based on Chicago's previous drafting history, but it is rare to find impact players at the position later in the draft.
He is quick and athletic, but he struggles with his tackling and is not a very instinctual defender. He began his career at Penn State as a cornerback and possesses good coverage skills, but there are concerns about his ability to come up and defend against the run.
The Bears passed on higher-rated safeties like Samford's Jaquiski Tartt, Louisville's James Sample and Stanford's Jordan Richards in earlier rounds, and they may end up regretting the Amos selection if he does not develop into anything more than a special teams contributor.
The Baffling: Not Drafting a Pass-Rusher
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As we discussed in the Grasu slide, it came as a bit of surprise that the Bears opted to take a center over a pass-rusher like Odighizuwa or Harold, and it is baffling that Pace did not take a single pass-rusher in this year's draft.
Early in the offseason, Pace talked about scouting outside linebackers and what he was looking for.
“Pass rush is the first thing that comes to mind. Edge speed. The ability to hit the quarterback," Pace said, according to John Mullin of CSNChicago.com. "And then also the ability to set the edge and get off a block. But pass rush is the number one priority.”
Bypassing Clemson's Vic Beasley in the first round to take White was understandable, but the Bears let guys like Nebraska's Randy Gregory, Washington's Hau'oli Kikaha, Utah's Nate Orchard and Missouri's Markus Golden pass by in the second round, and they opted not to take a chance on someone like Tennessee-Chattanooga's Davis Tull or Virginia's Max Valles in the later rounds.
Any pass-rusher they would have selected in this year's draft likely would have had a difficult time cracking the lineup because the team has so many options at the position, but taking someone like Tull or Valles in the fifth or sixth round would have given the team flexibility at the position in the future.
The Bears likely believe their top free-agent signing this offseason, Pernell McPhee, will hold down one of the pass-rushing outside linebacker spots for years to come, but there are plenty of questions surrounding the other starting outside linebacker position.
Guys like Allen, Young and Houston may be able to be productive at the position for a season or two, but all three are getting older, and the Bears have limited youthful options behind them.
The Baffling: Not Adding a Cornerback
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The Bears have little depth behind Fuller and Jennings at the cornerback position, but the team opted not to draft a cornerback over the weekend.
Both Fuller and Jennings are locked into long-term contracts with the organization, but backups Alan Ball and Sherrick McManis are only signed through the 2015 season.
Demontre Hurst and Al Louis-Jean signed two-year contracts this offseason, but both struggled in limited opportunities at the nickelback position last season.
Taking a cornerback with the seventh overall pick likely would have been a reach for the Bears, but high-ceiling cornerback prospects like LSU's Jalen Collins and Florida State's Ronald Darby were both available in the second round.
The Bears likely made the right decision in the second round by selecting Goldman, but they passed on Florida State's P.J. Williams, Stanford's Alex Carter and Texas State's Craig Mager in the third round.
Fuller had some ups and downs last season and should thrive in Vic Fangio's 3-4 defense in 2015, but Jennings is 31 years old and his play declined last season.
The cornerback position should not be an area of concern in 2015, but the Bears could end up regretting not selecting a cornerback in this year's draft if Fuller or Jennings gets hurt this season.
Draft information courtesy of the Chicago Bears via e-mail.
Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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