We all know it takes more than a single season to accurately assess the success of any draft class. Our own Josh Sunderbruch does a phenomenal job of explaining why this is and looking back at a more reasonable benchmark. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a moment to look back and see how the early returns are looking and if any selection would have been better spent elsewhere. What better class to assess than one of the more impactful ones we have seen in Chicago for some time? In this series,
I will go through each pick in each round and assign what I believe to be the best pick, worst pick and players that could have been selected instead.
Round 1 – Pick 10
Colston Loveland, TE
With needs at LT, DE, DT and RB, the selection of a TE when starter Cole Kmet was not even halfway through his four year $50 million extension seemed like a bit of a luxury pick for the 1st round. While he got his first official start in week 2, it wasn’t until week 8 when he finally played more than 66.7% of snaps on offense. Meanwhile, fellow first round TE Tyler Warren started week 1 while eclipsing 72% of snaps and had scored 3 TDs while racking up 439 yards receiving on 33 catches before week 8 even started. To say the critics were loud would be an understatement, but it didn’t take long for those receipts to be pulled and said critics to eat their own foolish and supremely premature takes.
For the rookie’s 713 yards ended up leading the team in receiving yards on the season and in the last 10 weeks, amassed 6 TDs and 540 yards on 47 catches. While he never quite caught up to the yardage numbers for Tyler Warren (817), he had more TDs, a better catch % and more yards per catch. Considering the impact he made in just his first year in Ben Johnson’s offense, not only was TE ultimately the right call, but Poles also picked the best TE for the team.
Other Potential Options:
Kenneth Grant, DT – Miami Dolphins pick 1.13
- 5 starts, 33 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL, 5 QBH
Walter Nolan, DT – Arizona Cardinals pick 1.16
- 0 starts, 11 tackles, 2 sacks, 5 TFL, 5 QBH
Derrick Harmon, DT – Pittsburgh Steelers pick 1.21
- 8 starts, 27 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 TFL, 5 QBH
James Pearce, DE – Atlanta Falcons pick 1.21
- 3 starts, 26 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 10 TFL, 16 QBH
Josh Simmons, LT – Kansas City Chiefs pick 1.32
- 8 starts, 8 penalties and 2 sacks allowed and 18 pressures on 526 snaps (367 pass block)
