This college star must become a Chicago Bears draft pick
The Chicago Bears didn’t play this weekend as they led off week 10 with a Thursday Night Football matchup on Amazon Prime. In that match, they defeated the Carolina Panthers by three points. Of course, the Panthers are very bad which makes this three-point win not mean much.
The Panthers’ first-round pick belongs to the Chicago Bears in 2024 because of the trade the two teams made ahead of the 2023 draft. At 1-8, it looks like they have a really good shot at being the worst team in the league and handing the Bears the first overall selection.
If the season ended today, the Bears’ original pick would be fifth overall meaning they have two top-five selections. That is something that they could use to better their franchise going forward. Some really great players will be available to them.
With there being no Bears football this weekend, some people might have stepped away from football as a whole this weekend. Some of us, however, didn’t miss a beat. Watching the college slate on Saturday and the pro slate on Sunday was equally as enjoyable without the Bears in action.
The Chicago Bears can have a good off-season ahead of them if they are smart.
One game that Bears fans could be really excited about was the game on Saturday night between Michigan State and Ohio State. It was a primetime matchup between two B1G rivals. To the surprise of no one, the Buckeyes destroyed the Spartans by a score of 38-3.
The big story of the game, however, was Marvin Harrison Jr. He is a star wide receiver who makes huge plays in just about every game he plays. In this big win over MSU, Harrison Jr. made seven receptions for 149 yards.
Two of those seven receptions saw Harrison Jr. reach the endzone for a touchdown. He was a big part of their blowout win as he helped them score a ton of points. Now, Ohio State is 10-0 and should be the number-one ranked team on Tuesday night.
Harrison Jr. is going to be a top-five selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Chicago Bears need to do what they can to get this guy. They will almost certainly be using a pick on a quarterback but they need to not leave that event without Harrison Jr.
If they come into 2024 with a good quarterback throwing to Harrison Jr. with DJ Moore on the other side, the offense could actually be pretty good. We’ll see if they can pull off a move like this as it would help them for a long time.
More Bears Offensive Line Change
Lineup changes due to better health are not confined to the Bears backfield.
Besides the possibility quarterback Justin Fields and running back Khalil Herbert could return this week, the most perplexing question the Bears face as soon as this week is what happens with Nate Davis back.
Herbert and Fields were starters before their injuries. Fields will be starter again and probably Herbert, because of his explosiveness.
However, real change could be coming on the offensive line—like the Bears haven’t already had enough changed starting offensive lines.
They’ve had six different starting lineups in 10 weeks.
With Nate Davis a possibility to return at right guard against the Detroit Lions for the first time since Week 5, it can leave the Bears with a perplexing situation.
“The combinations there are gonna be a discussion that we have to have, for sure,” coach Matt Eberflus said Monday.
It seems extremely unlikely they would bench Teven Jenkins. He moved from left guard to right guard when Davis went out. Cody Whitehair had been playing left guard, moved to center one game due to an injury to Lucas Patrick, then back to left guard when Jenkins went to right guard.
So the possibility exits they would bench Whitehair and put Jenkins at left guard again. Or they could put him at center and bench Patrick, or put Davis at left guard and leave Jenkins at right guard. It’s whatever offensive line coach Chris Morgan can come up with to face the Lions, who are ranked third against the run.
“Nate’s a good player,” Eberflus said. “Cody’s a good player. Teven’s a good player. So it’s a good problem to have.
“We’ll look at it and put our best five out there that we’re gonna put out there for the Lions.”
Not that Pro Football Focus is the be-all, end-all but the grading system is based on film review of all NFL games and Jenkins is graded 11th among all guards in the league. He’s almost graded equally as a run and pass blocker.
Whitehair is graded 79th out of 82 guards so even if you don’t put much stock in those grades, they can’t be off by that much. The course seems clear for the Bears, provided they want to put Davis back in the lineup.
It’s been a difficult season for Davis with injuries and then the loss of his mother. He’s been for only about a third of the offensive plays and was graded 57 out of 82 guards by PFF.
“I see really all three guys being able to flip and play,” Eberflus said. “We’ve just gotta figure out the best combination, who’s next to who and what gives us the best spot.”
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