The Bears are continuing their mantra of "business as usual," and this weekend that includes finishing up their typical draft preparation despite the lack of organized workouts that would usually happen around now. Larry Meyer explained a bit of what is happening around Halas Hall at this time.
"This is the final push," said director of player personnel Tim Ruskell. "We’re getting our final information gathered from the scouts. They’ve just come back off the road after their workout sessions and we are going through the board to make sure we’ve got people in the places we want them to be.
"We’re processing the board by position from best-to-worst and we’re processing the entire board from best-to-worst regardless of position, and that takes a lot of time."
I suppose this is done now to avoid early hype bias, but I hope somewhere in there is a list of needs or something. You know, something that'll smack Jerry's hand away from drafting a defensive end.
Late last week the Bears welcomed 29 draft prospects to Halas Hall. The majority of the players did not attend the Combine, so the Bears brought them in to give them physicals and have them talk football and about themselves.
"It was a wide spectrum of guys in terms of where they might go [in the draft]," Ruskell said. "We always say we’re not going to draft a guy unless we have a physical on him. You don’t want to be surprised after you take him. In some cases, we need to get to know these guys a little better. The scouts wanted to see them and the coaches wanted to know a little more about their football aptitude."
This weekend the Bears will conduct a Pro Day-like event at Halas Hall for local products.The Bears want to make a good impression on all the players who visit Halas Hall, but especially the ones who don't get drafted given the uncertainty that exists during the NFL labor dispute.
There's the crop of undrafted free agents all right, but given the uncertainty of the labor dispute, how many will pick the Bears over Jerry Glanville's Hartford Colonials? Probably most, but given the ability to get on the field, you never know.