Redraft Without Respect for One Bear
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Redrafts are possibly the most pointless endeavors ever invented by those in love with drafts and fantasy sports.
NFL.com's Chad Reuter held one with the point being for each NFL team to draft the best available players to win right now. The end result in many cases was often ignoring proven talent in favor of selecting long-term projects or quarterbacks like Justin Fields, who haven't made the jump yet.
The Bears got their usual amount of disrespect when no one from their team was selected until 87th overall and later in the draft one Bears player received the ultimate insult.
Fields, himself, was the first Bears player drafted at No. 87 in Round 3. The Arizona Cardinals took him.
NFL.com, Pro Football Focus, NBC Sports and everyone this side of Dan Orlovsky spent the offseason saying Fields isn't among the best 20 quarterbacks in the league, yet he went at No. 87 overall in this redraft designed for teams seeking immediate victory.
The Bears didn't take him because they selected their quarterback with the seventh pick. They drafted the quarterback they sought before picking Fields. They took Russell Wilson.
They also took Raiders edge Maxx Crosby (No. 58), Eagles tackle Lane Johnson (No. 71), Chargers center Corey Linsley (No. 122), Commanders defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (No. 135), Jets cornerback D.J. Reed (No. 199) and a receiver for Wilson. In a redraft meant for winning, now they selected a receiver who can't play for six games due to a PED suspension, DeAndre Hopkins.
"Now" apparently has a new meaning.
None of this compares with the ultimate Bears slight in the last round of this draft.
Roquan Smith was the 222nd player selected. He went to the Chiefs and was redrafted after Kyle Fuller's brother, Kendall, after Jimmy Ward and after former Bears edge rusher Leonard Floyd, who is now with Denver. They all went a round before Smith in this NFL.com redraft.
Cordarrelle Patterson was redrafted before Smith.
Mitchell Trubisky was redrafted 74 places ahead of Smith.
Even Andy Dalton was redrafted before Smith.
Now it seems Smith not only gets slighted at the end of each season when Pro Bowl voting is held, but also in the offseason.
In the end, Smith will have the last laugh with a contract extension that could make him the team's highest paid player. The impact of cash is a little greater than the results of fantasy mock drafts, or in this case a redraft.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
