Bear Digest

Chicago Bears pre-Senior Bowl mock draft uncovers potential issue

Offensive linemen become more coveted as the predraft process continues starting this week and this pre-Senior Bowl mock shows issues the Bears might face.
Gene Chamberlain|
Guard Tyler Booker is rated the best player at his position by Mel Kiper Jr. and a Bears find in Round 3 of this pre-Senior Bowl mock.
Guard Tyler Booker is rated the best player at his position by Mel Kiper Jr. and a Bears find in Round 3 of this pre-Senior Bowl mock. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

One often repeated truth of the Senior Bowl is how it marks a point where offensive linemen suddenly start rising on the draft charts.

The logic is obvious. Individual offensive line play is easier to distinguish at Senior Bowl practices with players who are the highest quality going one-on-one in drills against other top players. Often in college, team mismatches can disguise true talent along the line of scrimmage.

The Bears need to come up with three or four different offensive linemen. It's telling when at his first press conference, Ben Johnson said he and Ryan Poles already had discussed improving the offensive line and the plan is being put forth to adding talent.

The problem is, everyone else is going to start noticing those top offensive linemen in the draft more starting this week. And in a year when there are fewer quarterbacks so highly rated in the draft, along with a so-so group of wide receivers, the Bears might find in Round 1 that the “bigs” they deem worth taking early are gone by No. 10.

They might need to trade back or reach a bit on a pick if the target is offensive line.

There's more to getting better at the running game than linemen, and in this pre-Senior Bowl mock draft the Bears faced this choice.

It came down to taking running back Ashton Jeanty or an offensive lineman who lacked a grade as high as the pick.

Here's how it came out with the Bears on the clock in a pre-Senior Bowl mock using Pro Football Focus' simulator and talent assessment.

RB Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

Round 1, No. 10

It's not the pick you want to make necessarily but LSU's Will Campbell and Texas' Kelvin Banks were gone already and Josh Simmons has risk involved. Simmons was graded top 12 but not 10th by PFF and had knee surgery after an October injury. Will he be ready to participate in offseason work? The Bears already saw what happens in this situation with Kiran Amegadjie sitting out the entire offseason and training camp. He'd have been better off on IR all year than have his confidence subjected to what happened when he finally had to start on one-day's notice later in the season. The early run on linemen took all other potential early picks and so it's Jeanty, who becomes Ben Johnson's new Jahmyr Gibbs. He's fast enough, possesses a wicked jump cut and an ability to break tackles. Gibbs is more of a true lead back than 200-pound Gibbs is because he has greater ability to break tackles.

Edge Landon Jackson, Arkansas

Round 2, No. 39

Graded as the 38th best prospect and at a Bears need position, Jackson is a bigger, more classical 4-3 defensive end at 6-7, 280, and the type of player who would fit in where Demarcus Walker plays but also could move sides. He's big enough that he has even slid inside to the B-gap on occasion. He had seven sacks with 20 hurries and three batted passes in his final year. He was possibly the best edge player against the run last year and definitely the most sound. If the Bears had gone to a 3-4, then a different type of edge would be necessary but he'd fit in perfectly as a player like Trey Hendrickson was in New Orleans for Dennis Allen.

DT Walter Nolen, Mississippi

Round 2, No. 41

The board didn't break the Bears' way for offensive linemen, at least the way PFF has them graded. But the Bears need another defensive tackle badly because Zacch Pickens failed to live up to the challenge so far. Nolen, at 305 pounds, is a true 3-technique and would team well with Andrew Billings if Gervon Dexter is unable to master playing the run the way he has with pass rushing. Johnson said he feared playing the Bears in Detroit because of their run defense, but that run defense faltered badly without Billings and with Justin Jones gone as a free agent. This makes up for it.

G Tyler Booker, Alabama

Round 3, No. 72

There is no way the 6-5, 325-pound Booker is getting drafted this late. A two-year starter at left guard, Booker is rated the best guard in the draft by Mel Kiper in the positional assessment made this week by ESPN's four draft analysts. Field Yates has him No. 1, as well. Booker is a true guard, and not a tackle who will move positions like many see with Campbell. He solves a huge need here for the Bears with Teven Jenkins likely to leave.

C Jared Wilson, Georgia

Round 5, No. 148

Coleman Shelton was a so-so center on a dysfunctional line and the Bears can move on. They might want to use free agency for the position, but the 6-3, 310-pounder was available all the way down in Round 5 of this mock and he is rated the best center by three of ESPN's four analysts. Only Jordan Reid didn't have him as No. 1 center but has him No. 2. It's regarded as a thin group of centers in this draft so to come away with possibly the best in so late of a spot is a steal.

QB Jaxson Dart, Mississippi

Round 6, No. 197

Apparently PFF hasn't stayed up on things or didn't watch Mississippi film. This is a joke he would fall this far and I'd have taken him in Round 2 if they had satisfactorily addressed other issues already. But they hadn't. This is at least a second-round quarterback, so as he fell in this mock it was easy to take him here. Other real needs have been met. The Bears have a left tackle graded in the top half of the league in Braxton Jones, a right tackle who is going to be one of the best, they've drafted a center and guard and will no doubt use free agency for more line help. A former NFL personnel man once told me everyone looks at the arm first with a QB but the thing to watch is the eyes. And in that sense what's seen on TV is better than game film. Dart throws darts, but he sees like a sniper. It's in his eyes and very apparent during games. Caleb Williams better be a "professional football player" now, as Ryan Poles called it, because he'll eventually have a real challenge from a QB with an NFL arm.

TE Elijah Arroyo

Round 7, No. 234

For some reason, PFF hasn't realized the Bears have two picks in the seventh round and cut this mock off at one player in the last round. Arroyo has a PFF grade of No. 80 and he nearly fell off the board in this mock. While Cole Kmet is the true Y-tight end, this is the U-tight end Matt Nagy often complained he didn't have after Trey Burton washed out. He had a knee injury in the past and that was probably the reason he fell so far. However, he is a true speed tight end who gets downfield and threatens defenses like a wide receiver. The injuries limited him to only 11 catches until his final year in 2024, then he made 35 for 590 yards, a 16.9-yard average, and had seven TD receptions last year. The Bears don't have this type of player anywhere on the roster. At 6-4, 245, he's almost the same size as Sam LaPorta coming out of Iowa and Johnson definitely knew how to use LaPorta.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.