Chicago Bears Draft Day Two: Angelo Finally Gets Busy

With nine picks in the final six rounds, the Chicago Bears addressed their most pressing areas of need. Wide receiver, the defensive line, and safety were all points of focus for the Bears, who used six of their nine selections in those areas. It was a solid draft if nothing else, getting value late in the draft.

Round 3
Jarron Gilbert DT San Jose State 6’5” 288lbs
Gilbert projects to be an eventual starter at tackle for Chicago and could play on the outside, given that they could lose 3 ends in free agency this next off-season. This year he’ll see most of his use as a alongside Tommie Harris, threatening oft-injured Dusty Dvoracek’s roster spot. Gilbert is known for his “pool jump” found here, where he jumps from inside an in-ground pool to the surrounding pavement. Its impressive, to say the least, but he won’t be jumping any pools in the NFL.

Juaquin Iglesias WR Oklahoma 6’1” 210lbs
Iglesias is the most likely draftee to make an immediate impact this season. He is said to be a polished route-runner with great hands, so the Bears were smart in using their compensatory pick on him. Lose one wide receiver, use the pick gained from his loss on a wide receiver. That makes sense to me. Look for Iglesias to challenge for at least the third wide-out position.

Round 4
Henry Melton DE Texas 6’3” 280lbs
Melton is an interesting player, having started at Texas as a running back during their championship season. Transitioning to defensive end in his last two seasons, Melton accumulated 29 tackles, 10 for a loss, four sacks and two batted passes in his senior year. At least we know he’ll have speed on the outside if nothing else.

D.J. Moore CB Vanderbilt 5’9” 192lbs
Moore joins Jay Cutler, Chris Williams, Hunter Hillenmeyer, and Earl Bennett as Vanderbilt Bears. He racked up six interceptions in his junior year, along with solid kick and punt return averages. He’ll likely shoot ahead of Trumaine McBride and find the starting lineup in the next few years.

Round 5
Johnny Knox WR Abilene Christian 6’0” 185lbs
The kid is fast. He ran the third fastest 40-time at the combine, making him another deep threat behind Devin Hester. He’ll need to work on his routes and zone reads, but another fast target for Cutler is never a bad thing. Jay can and will throw it deep.

Marcus Freeman LB OSU 6’1” 239lbs
Projecting to the strong side linebacker, Freeman will find a solid place on special teams. Eventually he may push Hillenmeyer Nick Roach out of that strong-side position.

Round 6
Al Afalava S Oregon State 5’11” 213lbs
As a 6^th rounder, Afalava doesn’t look to displace any starting roster spots, but he’ll provide much-needed depth on the secondary and motivate second-year man Craig Steltz.

Round 7
Lance Louis TE SDSU 6’2” 303lbs
I know, the last position you expected the Bears to draft was tight end. This pick clearly is meant to inspire better play from Kellen Davis, Chicago’s third tight end. Davis missed some key blocks last season and won’t have a huge leash in the preseason.

Derek Kinder WR Pittsburgh 6’1” 210lbs
Kinder missed his entire 2007 season at Pitt after tearing his ACL during training camp. He rebounded nicely in 2008, reemerging as a receiving threat.

Chicago’s selections serve to add depth, but also competition. Every single draftee is coming in behind shaky, lazy, or unproven players as their position. Hopefully that translates into better play all-around for the 2009 season.

Obviously when looking at the Chicago Bears 2009 draft, you have to include trading for Jay Cutler. Taking that into consideration, Jerry Angelo got the most value for his picks and filled key holes with multiple bodies. Draft classes aren’t fairly evaluated until year three, but it would be nice if some of these selections can pan out early. (I’m looking at YOU wide receivers.)

Other Draft Notes:

-So the New York Jets ended up with only three selections. GM Mike Tannenbaum traded up for Mark Sanchez in the first round and Shonn Greene at the start of the third. I applaud the aggressiveness in a weak draft, but this is becoming a trend for them. Calm down Tannenbaum.

-Staying in the AFC East, the New England Patriots stockpiled picks like there was no tomorrow, taking 12 players in the ’09 draft. They even accumulated multiple picks in NEXT year’s draft. Unfortunately, the way Bill Belichick operates, only four or five of these incoming players may actually make the team. Sorry guys.

-For Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, the second day of the draft was busy, but uneventful. Like Chicago, Dallas traded out of the first day to garner more selections later on. Problem is, other teams kept jumping on their target players before Dallas went on the clock. The Roy Williams trade impacted this draft heavily, sending the ‘Boys’ first and third round picks to Detroit. It will be more than amusing if Williams doesn’t prove that worth.

Check back soon for a Bears season preview!