Grading the Chicago Bears' 2020 NFL Draft
The utter fascination for the Bears with the tight end position continues.
Cole Kmet will escape much of the scrutiny yet another second-round tight end would bring the Bears and general manager Ryan Pace by being the hometown hero and because he simply has to be better than the other choices they have.
This isn't to classify Kmet as Pro Football Hall of Fame material, although coach Matt Nagy's description had him as either Mike Ditka or the Robocop, the movie version and not James Thornton.
The selection of Jaylon Johnson at No. 50 can be second-guessed, but only ever so slightly because of his high draft status and a high need.
The draft after Round 2 for the Bears looked better than it could have considering the gap they failed to bridge by trading down.
Here's their Virtual NFL Draft 2020 grades based on several key categories.
Need: C
Did they really need another tight end?
At this point yes, but only because they brought in Jimmy Graham and Demetrius Harris in free agency and not a top-of-the-line type such as Austin Hooper.
The selection of Jaylon Johnson hit a need exactly and came at a point where the drop in talent level looked substantial. It was Johnson or Trevor Diggs or pray.
The real failure of this draft came when the Bears failed to find a safety.
Either Pace has a great deal more confidence in Deon Bush, Kentrell Brice and Jordan Lucas than almost everyone else, or he's got some of their remaining $10 million in salary cap space slotted already for a veteran free agent rehab project. There are several possibilties.
The same can be said for the way they feel about inside linebackers DeVante Bond, Joel Iyiegbuniwe and Josh Woods because there was no one taken to follow in the footsteps of Nick Kwiatkoski or Kevin Pierre-Louis.
The Trevis Gipson maneuver did hit a real need but can they get the production necessary from a player they admit is raw in order to give Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn a rest? It might take a while to get Gipson rolling.
And no quarterback, once again. Pace is 1-for-6 years in drafting quarterbacks.
Future Success: B
This draft was all about the future. The only players they can be certain will get thrown face first into the fire are Johnson and possibly Kmet, but the presence of veterans at the same position will make the tight end spot initially more of a rotation.
The last five picks chosen all have potential and all have major reasons why they might need to start out watching others play.
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney is gifted with speed but a fifth-round wide receiver has enough blemishes to keep him from being a Day 2 pick. Those have to be smoothed out first.
Best Available: B
When they took Kmet, there obviously was no other tight end at that point worthwhile and the top cornerbacks had gone. It came down to whether they had safety judged as important enough to supplant a tight end. It's been obvious since last season when the tight end spot collapsed that Nagy thinks this is a critical position.
When they took Johnson, they got the need filled with top talent but Trevon Diggs was also available. The Cowboys took him with the next pick, glad to get an SEC talent who was the brother of an NFL player. There has been enough criticism of Diggs for being a high-risk, high-reward type to make Johnson a more worthwhile choice.
Gipson had been put in many mock drafts at the bottom of Round 3 or into Round 4 and the Bears maneuvered to get him in Round 5.
With Mooney, speed that late is obviously a rarity. Here was the third-fastest wide receiver from the combine.
Resourcefulness: A+
The gap between the second round and the fifth round was never closed because the Bears liked their two second-round picks too much.
Sixth-round talent hasn't really measured up under Pace, but the fifth round has. So he sacrificed one fourth-rounder from next year to get a coveted player and created three fifth-round picks with another trade up.
It wasn't quite making wine from water but in draft terms it was extremely creative.
Immediate Help: C
Maybe Kmet can play well enough. The only good year he had at Notre Dame was last year, but Pace put part of the blame on a baseball. Kmet tried playing spring baseball instead of spring football. With more time to focus, maybe he steps up.
Johnson should play immediately, no doubt about it. He almost has to play immediately considering the talent level at the position.
Trevis Gipson, Kindle Vildor and Darnell Mooney all look like players who might be able to step in for a play or so to help occasionally in their first year, but definitely not start. The two linemen taken in Round 7 could be practice squad material.
Overall: B-
The dividing point between a C+ and B- became the way they made up for the drop in talent level from the middle of Round 2 to the middle of Round 5 without trading down in Round 2. They went from one fifth, two sixths and two sevenths to three fifths and two sevenths. It showed a real knowledge of all the subterranean levels beneath the draft, the short cuts to getting what a team needs.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
