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I haven’t been overly excited with many of the mock drafts floating around out there as they pertain to the Chicago Bears. We looked at a bunch last week, and most had the Bears taking wide receiver Calvin Ridley from Alabama with their eighth overall pick. I’m not a fan. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’ll be a decent pro, I just think the Bears can find better value at a few other positions in the first round, then they can nab their wide out later.
The latest mock draft from SB Nation’s Dan Kadar is more along that thought process. Last week his mock did have the Bears going with Ridley, but this week’s is more to my liking.
8. Chicago Bears: Minkah Fitzpatrick, DB, Alabama
If Fitzpatrick goes to a team like Chicago it would be as a cornerback. It’s not exactly a stretch for him since he often played in the slot in nickel coverage.
Dan lists Fitzpatrick as a defensive back, and that is because he’s such a versatile player. He can play safety, nickle, or corner, and play them all well. He’s 6’1”, 203 pounds, and last year he ran a sub 4.4 forty for scouts.
He’s a great athlete, but his production on the field is what has scouts drooling. In his three year career, he racked up 16.5 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 9 interceptions with 4 returned for TDs, and 24 passes defended.
In the second round Kadar has the Bears going wide receiver Christian Kirk of Texas A&M. Kirk is 5’11”, 200 pounds, and was also highly productive in college. His three year career saw him grab 234 receptions for 2856 yards, with 26 touchdowns on offense, and on special teams he added a kick return for a TD and 6 punt returns for TDs.
EDIT: I reached out to Dan to get his thoughts on mocking Kirk to the Bears in the second round and here’s what he had to say.
I really think wide receiver needs to be a priority for the Bears this offseason. Kendall Wright is a solid player, but not a lead receiver. Neither is Dontrelle Inman. So when you have use the No. 2 pick in the draft on a quarterback, you have to give him some better receivers. Kirk isn’t a big possession receiver, but he’s killer working the slot and using his speed to get open. I thought he was especially good in the Belk Bowl picking apart a Wake Forest defense that has some NFL pieces in the secondary.
Check out Dan’s mock draft and let us know how you would have drafted for the Bears if you were the one mocking.