(670 The Score) How the new Bears regime led by rookie general manager Ryan Poles will attack the NFL Draft remains a mystery nine days out, but Athletic draft guru Dane Brugler has a plan for what Chicago should do.
In his latest mock draft, Brugler projected the Bears to select North Dakota State receiver Christian Watson at No. 39 overall in the second round. He believes it’s a position the Bears must address in the NFL Draft, and they need to be aggressive in doing so with their first available pick.
“This team needs to put talent around the quarterback,” Brugler said on the Dan Bernstein Show on Tuesday. “I know Ryan Poles knows that. That’s one of the priorities here. The receivers are going to fly off the board this year, whether that’s a result of all the fat contracts being handed out to wide receivers around the league right now, whether that’s just the talent level in this class. In reality, it’s both, but we’re going to see receivers fly off the board – especially in the first round but then into the second round. It will be interesting to see which receivers are still left at pick 39. There’s a good chance it could be the direction the Bears go. Christian Watson in this scenario, in this exercise, was the top receiver there. He’s 6-foot-4, 210 pounds. He has crushed the process in terms of going to the Senior Bowl and showing out. Coming from the FCS level, there’s always a little bit of a projection there going up against better talent, but Christian Watson did a nice job for himself against the other top seniors in this draft class. And then you look at the combine, running in the 4.3s (in the 40-yard dash). Pro day, running a sub-seven second three-cone (drill). You see this athleticism on the field. Does he need to be a little more detailed as a route runner? Yes.
Does he need to be more consistent as a finisher down the field? Yes. But that’s why we’re talking about a second-round pick and not a slam-dunk first-round pick. We know Justin Fields can, especially from his days at Ohio State, he’s got a beautiful deep ball, can really stretch the field out. A guy like Christian Watson can help him do that. I think the matchup of developing quarterback and receiver, they can do that with these two guys.”
At No. 48 overall in the second round, Brugler projected the Bears to select Oklahoma defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey, “who’s on his way up,” Brugler said.
“Developing him as your three-technique, he can play the five, you can move him around a little bit on the defensive line,” Brugler said. “We know that the Bears, aside from getting weapons, want to build in the trenches, and Perrion Winfrey would help them do that.”
You can click here to read Brugler's full seven-round mock draft.