Grading the 2013 Chicago Bears Draft

I'm a big believer in waiting for at least two or three years before you begin to judge the Bears' draft, but on the initial reaction, like I said in the overall recap, I like what the Bears tried to do here. The Bears' plan in the draft was to rebuild the offensive line and the linebacking corps, and so far, it looks like that's what they've done. We won't know how the players look until they hit the field, but there's cause for optimism.

Mike Mayock's got some optimism to spare, if you need it. He likes Kyle Long as a start-now-at-guard and develop into tackle player, has both Khaseem Greene and Jonathan Bostic as starters, puts Mills at right tackle, and then just tells Cornelius Washington to hunt quarterbacks.

ESPN's NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert marked Long's selection as the most surprisng move in the division.

Mel Kiper's not a fan of the draft; in his Insider piece on ESPN, he gave the Bears a B+ based on needs, but on value he gave the Bears a C for a C+ overall. Somehow, he thinks that drafting Tyler Eifert would have given the Bears enough value to grade them higher. I'm not an expert, but I think they got plenty of late value. An excerpt:

Three months ago the Bears looked like a disaster at linebacker. They look a lot better today. Jordan Mills has a shot to stick, and while I admitted I probably overrated Cornelius Washington because he was such a workout freak, his tape wasn't bad enough to have him fall to the sixth. I'll want to find out why he fell so far. Marquess Wilson at one time was seen as a likely second-rounder. If he shows up to work consistently, he could be a steal. The Bears did some good things, and went for big needs, I just think they missed on value with Eifert.

CBS' Pete Prisco and Jason Chilton of BarkingCarnival.com went through and graded every single pick individually - Prisco gave the Bears a C+ for drafting Long and a C for Bostic, then Chilton offered an A- for picking up Greene, an A- for Mills in the 5th, a B for Washington in the 6th and a B+ for Wilson.

Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News offered the Bears only a C, and had this to say about it:

Chicago Bears: The Bears did go after needed offensive line help, but ended up with a couple of projects there, including their first-rounder, Oregon's Kyle Long. Long, however, might need to start out inside as he's still growing as a tackle. Their fifth-rounder, Louisiana Tech's Jordan Mills, is closer to being able to aid them at the position. Florida second-rounder Jon Bostic, with his tacking ability and upfield instincts, is a textbook replacement for Brian Urlacher. Likewise, Rutgers' Khaseem Greene has the range and coverage skills to fight to replace Nick Roach on the strong side.

The consensus of the draft grades I've found seem to indicate the experts think the Bears reached early but started finding some good value picks late in the draft.