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NFL Draft 2023: Which player were you annoyed to see the Bears pass on?

The WCG staff makes their pick for the player that got away.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: OCT 22 Northwestern at Maryland Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

We kicked off this Windy City Gridiron roundtable by asking which was our favorite draft pick, and then yesterday we asked which was our "least" fave, and today we want to know about the prospect that got away.

Was there a player that the Chicago Bears passed on that annoyed you?

Aaron Leming - This is an easy one for me and one that I would assume I'm not alone on, but it was them passing on Adetomiwa Adebawore. I know he didn't go until much later than expected, but I cannot help but feel like he would have been a better pick than either defensive tackle the Bears took in front of him. I hope I'm wrong, and I'm sure there's some bias to this answer, but that's where I'm at post-draft.

Jacob Infante - I really wanted Adetomiwa Adebawore to end up on the Bears. Though I don't have personal access to his medicals, his incredible testing and flashes he displayed on tape made him worth a good investment, in my eyes. Especially considering he fell to the fourth round, I would have been very happy if they ended up with him, but I suppose it wasn't meant to be.

Jon Helmkamp - Adetomiwa Adebawore. There was buzz about the hyper-athletic defensive tackle sneaking into late Round 1. Instead, he lasted all the way to Round 4. At 282 pounds, Adebawore ran a 4.54 40-yard dash, and threw down a 37.5" vertical jump and 10'5" broad jump at the combine. Poles targeted athleticism all throughout the draft, and this was a specific position of need. I wanted him very badly, and we passed him over with all three of our picks on Day 2. That one still stings.

Sam Householder - Not a player, but a position; it seems like ignoring the interior offensive line, particularly center, was an oversight. John Michael-Schmitz, Juice Scruggs, there were guys that were there for the taking, and they didn't. Maybe Ryan Poles valued other positions and players higher. Obviously, you can't fix all needs in one draft, but tripling down on interior defensive line but not taking so much as a flier on a center seems like an oversight.

Peter Borkowski - Skipping over John Michael Schmitz hurt. The Bears' center position has been a revolving door the past couple of seasons, and one of the best center prospects was right there for the taking at pick 56. I do not dislike the Tyrique Stevenson pick by any means, and Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick are capable of holding the position down, but it would have been nice to snag another long-term piece to the O-line. And while some combination of Jones-Jenkins-Whitehair-Davis-Wright is already an improvement from previous years, inserting Schmitz into that rotation would have looked pretty nice as well.

EJ Snyder - I know the Bears think they're set at center with Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick, and I hope they're right. But passing on John Michael Schmitz (he went one pick after they selected Tyrique Stevenson) feels like the kind of move that could come back to haunt them in a couple of years. Later in the draft, they also had another chance to bolster the position with Olu Oluwatimi from Michigan (he went six picks after they grabbed Noah Sewell in the 5th).

Jeff Berckes - I think the market for center surprised Ryan Poles (and many others), and he missed out on the chance to add to the offensive line. Joe Tippmann was gone by the time the Bears were on the clock on Day 2, but John Michael Schmitz was there at 53. Ricky Stromberg may have been a target for the start of the fourth round but got scooped up at the end of the third. Juice Scruggs, who we heard through the grapevine was on the shortlist for Chicago, went much higher than people thought at 62 overall. For me, it was always JMS, and while I was told repeatedly on Twitter and elsewhere that there was no way he'd be available at pick 53, he was, and the Bears went in a different direction.

Josh Sunderbruch - Zack Kuntz. 7th-round picks are usually longshots anyway, so it seems to me like taking a chance on the poster child for RAS at tight end in a deep tight end draft is a better use of #218 than the third interior defensive lineman in the same draft.

Erik Duerrwaechter - None, really. I loved it when the Bears picked Gervon Dexter Sr., and I had him as a very underrated match to consider for months. It was a surprise to see Ade Ade passed on, but he went to the 4th round to the Colts. It turns out his stock wasn't boosted by his insane combine performance. That's my one surprise, but not even an annoyance—just a little bit of an eyebrow-raiser.

Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. - Most of the prospects I was hoping for came off the board before the Bears went on the clock, but in the seventh round at pick 258, I thought the Bears would pull the trigger on Army's Andre Carter II. Chicago didn't have any pass rushers on the board that would have made sense earlier, but the seventh is a nice time to gamble on an athletic edge.

Now it's your turn Bears fans... Was there a player that Chicago passed on that annoyed you?