Bear Digest

Bears show draft interest following the trend of Super Bowl champs

The Philadelphia Eagles had Super Bowl success with former Georgia defensive players and the Bears have expressed interest at the combine in one former Bulldog.
Gene Chamberlain|
Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams addresses the assembled media at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams addresses the assembled media at the NFL Scouting Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

It's uncertain they'll have the chance but the Bears are at least considering the possibility they could follow the Philadelphia Eagles' defensive lead.

That would mean drafting former Georgia defensive players.

Defensive end Mykel Williams confirmed at the combine that the Bears had spoken with him.

"It'd be amazing to play for the Bears," Williams said. "I love their coaching staff and the general manager Ryan Poles. I'd love to play for the Bears."

Williams is 6-foot-5, 265 pounds and at that size could fit well for Dennis Allen's scheme on the edge.

Maybe of more importance is the fact he comes from Georgia.

The Eagles ranked first in pass defense, 10th in run defense and first in total defense last year and had six former Georgia defensive players playing for coordinator Vic Fangio, including five obtained through the previous three drafts by GM Howie Roseman. It looks like good strategy now after dismantling Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

Williams already displayed something most NFL teams would want to see from a player. It might have been the reason he was limited to just five sacks in his final college season.

"I played injured this whole year," he said, referring to an ankle injury suffered early in the season.

As a result, he's not expected to do much at the combine and will defer to Georgia's pro day.

"So coming off my ankle I decided to take the first two, three weeks to rest my ankle and try to get it back up under me," he told reporters. "That delayed my training. I got a late jump, so that's why I'm going pro day instead of combine."

The decision doesn't seem to have hurt him, judging from teams' reactions.

"I have a different grit about myself that I can push through pain," he said. "No matter how I'm feeling, I can still go get it done. The teams loved that I did.

"Most players in the position I was in, they would've sat and called it. They (NFL teams) respected that about me."

Williams' stats might not look the most impressive with 14 career sacks and 23 tackles for loss but higher quality Georgia defensive players pretty much compete with each other for those stats and in some cases they don't ring up big numbers because they're routing teams and the starters leave the game.

For instance, many people don't realize Jalen Carter had six total sacks for his college career but was highly coveted despite his drag-racing situation. Now out of that program, he has 4 1/2 more sacks in two NFL years than he had the entire time he was at Georgia.

Williams is not the only Georgia defensive lineman expected to go in Round 1. Williams is being projected by the consensus of mock drafts on NFL Mock Draft Data Base as the ninth pick in Round 1 to New Orleans, while Mel Kiper has him going 17th to Cincinnati. Georgia edge Jalon Walker is projected by the data base as the eighth pic to Carolina.

At 6-2, 245, Walker is more of multiple-position threat, a bit like Micah Parsons.

"You're not going to find a lot of guys who would be at four position in one series," Walker told reporters at the combine. "So I feel that makes me a different chess piece that no one can compare to."

It's a piece the Bears would be less likely trying to find a fit for because the edge rushers in Allen's scheme are more stay at home than moving to rush from the secondary or slot. Williams is not a linebacker type while the smaller Walker is.

Two other teams Williams talked to were Detroit and Dallas. The Allen defensive scheme isn't a lot different than what Matt Eberflus used with the Bears and now Eberflus is in Dallas as coordinator.

"I loved that meeting," Williams said of the Cowboys. "Can't talk about it but I loved that meeting."

The only problem for Williams is if the Bears drafted him he might be coming a bit too late to Chicago or maybe even the NFL.

He was asked which quarterback he was personally looking forward to sacking.

"Aaron Rodgers," he said, and Bears fans would have loved seeing it a few years ago. "I personally worked with him during draft training, so it's been fun learning from him and talking ball with him.

"If I sack him, I'll be able to talk a little trash to him."

Rodgers would need a team first.

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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.