First Day of Draft Leaves Plenty of DBs, WRs for Bears

The first day of the NFL Draft greatly reduced the chances for the Bears to come up with a speed receiver while leaving them opportunities in the defensive secondary as well as tight end.

In all, six wide receivers were drafted in Round 1. Two potential speed receivers were taken earlier than many mock drafts suggested, TCU's Jalen Reagor at No. 21 to Philadelphia and Brandy Aiyuk of Arizona State at No. 25 to the 49ers after a trade up.

There were a few quality receivers still available, but the run on them left the Bears a possible shot in Round 2 at defensive backs like Alabama safety Xavier McKinney, LSU safety Grant Delpit, Minnesota safety Antoine Winfield Jr., LSU cornerback Kristian Fulton, Alabama cornerback Trevon Diggs and Utah cornerback Jaylon Johnson. Delpit won the Thorpe Award as best defensive back last year, Diggs is the brother of Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs and Winfield is the son of the former Vikings defensive back.

No safeties were drafted in Round 1.

The wide receiver group still available includes Baylor's Denzel Mims, Clemson's Tee Higgins, Colorado's Laviska Shenault, USC's Michael Pittman and Penn State's KJ Hamler. Mims is a taller receiver at 6-foot-3 and ran a 4.38 40-yard dash with a 38.5-inch vertical leap. His three-cone drill time of 6.66 seconds was the fastest at the combine and his 4.38 40 time was the third-fastest time among all players. Higgins isn't particularly fast but is more of a vertical threat who can line up in all receiver positions.

Shenault lacks the reach and height of Mims and Higgins and is built almost like a tight end at 6-1, 227. He ran a 4.58-second 40.

Hamler is a wild card as he didn't run a 40-yard dash due to a hamstring injury and then turned in a "virtual pro day" with him running a 4.39-second 40-yard dash.

Pittman has been a steady producer and is much like Allen Robinson II with the Bears, an X receiver with great height and strength at 6-4, 223.

The Bears are known to have had contact with a number of these remaining players.

Mims had a teleconference with them according to Justin Melo of DraftWire.com. He also reported Fulton had a meeting with them. The Houston Chronicle's Aaron Wilson reported a teleconference meeting between the Bears and Delpit.

Pittman was known to have spoken early in the draft process with the Bears.

No tight ends were drafted and Notre Dame's Cole Kmet is still available as the most highly regarded player at the position.

Several offensive linemen who the Bears could have interest in remain available, including tackles Josh Jones of Houston and Ezra Cleveland from Boise State.

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