ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently published an article with intel gathered about all 32 draft classes from various scouts, coaches, and executives around the League. He shared two Chicago Bears nuggets he learned from his sources. One was about a first-round backup plan that the Bears contemplated on day two, while the other was about a day three selection.
“The Bears eyed a trade-up in the second round but chose to stand pat,” Fowler wrote. “They were high on Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood, who went
No. 37 to the Giants. Chicago figured its No. 25 pick, Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman, would be gone in the top 20, so perhaps Hood would’ve been a viable fallback option there if Thieneman was off the board.”
Zack Pearson, who is on the Bears’ beat for the Bear Report, confirmed that Chicago did have Hood “high on their board,” while adding that Hood “was 100% an option at 25 if Thieneman wasn’t there.”
You’ll get no complaints from me about Thieneman at 25, though I’m also a fan of what I’ve seen of Hood.
I’m also a fan of what Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad, Chicago’s fourth-round pick, can bring to the Bears. ESPN’s Matt Miller picked Muhammad as one of his top 100 favorite selections in the draft, but he’s not the day three player that Fowler had some intel on.
“The Bears believe they’re getting a steal with sixth-round defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg out of Georgia Tech,” Fowler added. “Several of his testing numbers hit the highest mark on the Bears’ internal scouting scale. My sense is the Bears have plans for him beyond that of a typical sixth-round flier and believe he was one of the more gifted defensive tackles in the draft.”
The Bears’ defensive tackle depth chart says that van den Berg will be in the mix as DT4 at the very least. Grady Jarrett, Gervon Dexter Sr., and free agent addition Neville Gallimore are the likely top 3 defensive tackles. But fellow free agent pickups James Lynch and Kentavius Street both signed for league-minimum money, and both offer some tackle/end versatility.
If van den Berg takes to NFL coaching quickly to hone his technique and can learn his responsibilities, his ceiling seems higher than that of a typical sixth-rounder.
