Here we are on Monday and the Chicago Bears went everywhere in the draft except QB. Throughout the draft on Sunday, The GM and I had plenty of things to toss around while we waited for the Colts' picks to come around. The most popular topic was: "When are the Bears going to draft a quarterback?" Well, as you can see from the picture above, the most logical answer in retrospect is: "Next year."
The Bears traded this way and that, round after round, and still did not pick a QB. Mind you, they had TEN picks on Day 2 of the NFL draft. The GM and I were convinced that they were going to take John David Booty of USC. Time and again Chicago traded down or went another direction with their selections. Even the undrafted free agents they took at QB (Nick Hill of Southern Illinois and Caleb Hanie of Colorado State) are so out of nowhere that you can't really expect them to be anything but scout team contributors.
The Bears only re-signed current QB Rex Grossman to a one year deal for 2008, so the popular assumption was that they would go after a back-up/potential replacement in the 2008 draft with guys like Booty, Erik Ainge, Colt Brennan, Josh Johnson, and Andre Woodson available. Well, now that I have had time to digest the events and to think about it, I have decided that the Bears are set on moving forward with a Gator quarterback, just not the one they currently employ.
I think that regardless of the 2008 season results that these Bears have, they will do whatever they can to position themselves in the draft to take Tim Tebow of Florida in the 2009 NFL Draft. Tebow already has one Heisman under his belt and could very well add another this coming season. In 2008, he completed 66.9% of his passes for 32 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. He also ran for 895 yards and 23 scores. Tebow is built like a fullback at 6'3" and 235 pounds, making him tough to bring down. I would not expect him to rush the ball much at the pro level, but his mobility is a tremendous intangible that would have any NFL GM drooling, especially if he continues to be an efficient passer against the competition Florida plays every Saturday.
I could be off base here, but I think that a team like Chicago could easily look at this year's pool of QBs and decide to hold off when there is a player like Tim Tebow poised to be ready for the 2009 draft. Whichever NFL team loses their way into the top draft spot next year could very well find themselves a popular target of phone calls from GM's of Chicago or San Francisco. Then again, the Bears and 49ers could also find themselves earning that draft position on their own.
Comments always welcome...what do you all think?
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Comments
Nice post. It is hard to angle yourself for a pick in the NFL because of the weird way teams work. The Bears defense is good enough to win 6 games, which may take them out of the top 4 or 5 picks. With that in mind, I would add Cullen harper of Clemson to the list of QBS and maybe the kid from Oklahoma. THese guys may very well be in the Bear's crosshairs as well.
Just read Todd McShay's mock draft for 2009 and he has Tebow going to the Bear's at pick number 7. Stafford from Georgia is picked at 3 as well.
My feeling is that the Bears would make a trade and do whatever was needed in order to get themselves in position to draft Tebow. It will be interesting to see how the Grossman/Bears drama plays out throughout the 2008 NFL season.
Maybe Orton could take Tebow out and show him how a real pro parties and Tebow could show Orton how to shave and how to attract big breasted coeds.