Bears Seeing Inside Linebackers of Different Shapes and Sizes
One position pushed into the background by all the receivers, offense and defensive backs in this draft is inside or middle linebacker.
Aside from a few first-round dominant players of the Roquan Smith class, the majority of mock drafts and online scouting reports see prospects at this position falling down into the mid or late rounds and some quality might go there or even go undrafted.
The Bears prevented the loss of a starter at the position in free agency when they signed Danny Trevathan but lost all their depth when Nick Kwiatkoski went to Las Vegas and Kevin Pierre-Louis bolted for Washington.
The franchise more associated with inside or middle linebacker play than any other is in need of backup help there and a report by NBC Sports.com's Bryan Perez at the Senior Bowl had them talking to Wyoming's Logan Wilson and Appalachian State's Akeem Davis-Gaither.
Wilson has been listed in mock drafts as anywhere from a third-round pick to a fifth-rounder, and at his school's pro day he told NFL Draft Blitz's Ed Hunt he has enough athleticism to accomplish whatever a team asks.
"I played in a 4-3 here, more like a 4-2-5," he said. "I think I can play outside backer in some schemes, too."
It's important because of the need for keeping a linebacker on the field at all times. Trevathan does it, but a strong pass-coverage linebacker could replace him because it's not his strength.
At 6-foot-2, 241 pounds, Wilson is almost the same size as Kwiatkoski and registered impressive combine numbers at 4.63 in the 40 and 7.07 in the three-cone drill. His 21 reps in the bench was fifth most among linebackers.
Wilson specialized in pass coverage with 10 interceptions and 14 passes defensed, but also did what any inside linebacker needs to do and made tackles -- lots of tackles. He made 409 of them in four full seasons.
A player at the position who might be more readily available to the Bears later in the draft after they address other needs is Davis-Gaither.
Most mocks put him at the fourth round to sixth round level. The problem with him is his size, at 6-1, 224. He doesn't view the size as an issue because as he sees it he can add the weight anyway.
"Coming out of high school, I was 170," Davis-Gaither told reporters at the combine. "So I just had that underdog mentality where I was small but I wanted to play big."
Davis-Gaither said teams he talked to at the combine and earlier saw him as an inside linebacker despite his lack of size. Davis-Gaither follows a league trend toward lighter, faster inside linebackers, and made 197 tackles with one interception in his two years of starting. However, at his size he is definitely bordering on the lighter side and almost safety size.
One of Kwiatkoski's chief roles was special teams and Davis-Gaither has the experience on coverage teams needed.
He couldn't show off his speed at the combine because of a foot stress fracture that was repaired with a March 3 surgery.
What Davis-Gaither showed as an undersized linebacker is he has the weight-room strength of bigger linebackers. He did take part in the bench press and his 21 reps at 225 pounds was the same number Wilson did, tied for sixth best among linebackers.
He said that strength transfers to the field.
"I wanted to show guys that size didn't matter to me; hit guys in the mouth, just really play hard, just be like a lion out of the cage on game day," Davis-Gaither said. "I just turn on a different mindset when the lights go on."
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