© Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports
Where the Bears Could Look on Day 2 of Draft
It's going to be a long wait now for the Bears before their next pick at 75 overall in Round 3, if they hope to get pass rush help for Montez Sweat.
The Bears succeeded at upgrading their offense while leaving their needy pass rush still withouth another edge rusher, as well as a potential 3-technique and future safety.
They found two defensive tackles last year in the draft on Day 2, although neither Gervon Dexter nor Zacch Pickens has ascended enough so anyone can say with certainty they can adequately replace Justin Jones. And Jones wasn't especially highly graded by Pro Football Focus, although Arizona liked him enough to pay him $30 million for three years.
Defensive tackles Jer'Zhan Newton of Illinois and Ruke Orhorhoro of Clemson went undrafted in Round 1. The problem the Bears have is they're not picking again until No. 75, well into Round 3.
It's possible to find immediate pass rush help in Round 3.
The Rams' Kobie Turner (9 sacks) and Byron Young (8 sacks) and Tampa Bay's YaYa Diaby (7.5 sacks) led all rookies in sacks last year and came out of Round 3.
Any list of players still available in the draft needs to start well down the line for the Bears because they've got to wait 43 picks before they're on the clock again.
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GM Ryan Poles on Thursday night after Round 1 acknowledged it's possible to move up to Round 2, but costly.
"Potentially," he said. "We’ll see what the numbers look like and just kind of gauge if that’s something we need to do."
With only four picks, they might be trading away future picks if they did move up and the value isn't as high for those. Having only four picks left Poles feeling he might go a bit underworked.
"It’ll feel strange after the fourth round tomorrow," Poles said. "I’ll probably just go get a workout in or something."
Players who could be there by 75 at need positions are:
Defensive Line
- DE Bralen Trice, Washington
- DT Braden Fiske, Florida State
- DL Brandon Dorlus, Oregon
- DT Kris Jenkins, Michigan
- DE Chris Braswell, Alabama
- DT Michael Hall, Ohio State
- DE Marshawn Kneeland, Western Michigan
- DE Austin Booker, Kansas
- DT Leonard Taylor III, Miami
- DE Adisa Isaac, Penn State
- DT T'Vondre Sweat, Texas
- DE Mohamad Kamara, Colorado State
- DT Tyler Davis, Clemson
The Lowdown: Booker came for a visit to Halas Hall. Dorlus is a player who can play both tackle and end, like DeMarcus Walker of the Bears. Fiske electrified the Senior Bowl week with his play n the gap. Braswell was part of triumvirate of Alabama edge excellence with Will Anderson and Dallas Turner. Sweat is probably ruled out because of his size. He's not the 3-technique size and also just had a DUI charge.
Safety
- Tyler Nubin, Minnesota
- Kamren Kinchens, Miami
- Kitan Oadapo, Oregon St.
- Calen Bullock, USC
- Javon Bullard, Georgia
- Jaylin Simpson, Auburn
The Lowdown: Kinchens, a former teammate of Tyrique Stevenson's, made a 30 visit to Halas Hall. Nubin is from St. Charles North High, in the west suburbs. The other safety who came to Halas Hall on a top-30 visit was Dadrian Taylor-Demerson of Texas Tech, a free safety who the 41-second speed and played all over the secondary.
Center
- Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon
- Zach Frazier, West Virginia
- Hunter Nourzad, Penn State
- Beaux Limmer, Arkansas
- Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia
The Lowdown: The only remaining centers with reported top-30 Bears visits were Frazier and Powers-Johnson. Graham Barton of Duke also did, but was drafted in Round 1 by Tampa Bay. They do have this position covered with two veterans in Coleman Shelton and Eric Bates, and also have veteran Doug Kramer in his third year.
Tackle
- Kingsley Suamataia, BYU
- Patrick Paul, Houston
- Roger Rosengarten, Washington
- Blake Fisher, Notre Dame
- Brandon Coleman, TCU
- Caedan Wallace, Penn State
- Javon Foster, Missouri
- Kiran Amegadjie, Yale
The Lowdown: If they wanted to provide competition for Braxton Jones, there is an opportunity. Bears offensive line coach Chris Morgan worked with Fisher on field at Notre Dame's pro day. Amegadjie had a Bears visit but it wasn't a top 30. He had a local visit as he is from Hinsdale Central High.
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