With the 36th pick in the SB Nation 2017 re-draft, the Bears take Derek Barnett

What Ifs are a fun offseason exercise, so when SB Nation asked us to re-draft the first two rounds of the 2017 NFL Draft I immediately agreed. And considering I’d get a hindsight do-over for the Chicago Bears’ picks of Mitchell Trubisky AND Adam Shaheen, it would be a cathartic experience for some of our fans.

My first round pick of George Kittle surprised some, but for me taking the best tight end in the game today is better than getting a really good edge rusher. Especially when considering how important the tight end position is to Matt Nagy’s offense and how devoid the position is of talent in Chicago. If you want to get into the whole, ‘If they picked Myles Garrett, they never would have traded for Khalil Mack’ argument that’s your prerogative, but I was just looking at as who would best fit on today’s Bear team in place of the real 2017 picks.

And besides, I was able to snag a edge rusher with the 36th overall pick in our 2017 re-draft... Derek Barnett.

The Eagles took Barnett with the 14th overall pick that year, and recently he was one of only 17 first round picks in 2017 that were either extended or had their 5th year options picked up. He’s started all 20 games he’s appeared in the last two years, and I think the best football is in front of the 23-year old.

His 14 sacks (in 35 career games) is the 6th most of that draft class and he was a member of the PFWA All-Rookie Team.

For a reminder on the players that went from 1 to 35 in our re-draft you can check this out.