The Perfect Draft: Chicago Bears

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

The Bears enter the NFL Draft in a unique position -- especially for them. They've already made a huge splash in the offseason, and won't have a pick until the middle of the second round. With Jay Cutler in house, the Bears need to give him the weapons to be successful. The situation isn't as dire as many think. Cutler made a 2nd rounder (Eddie Royal) and 3rd rounder (Brandon Marshall) into two of the most explosive players in the league in Denver.
The Ideal Pick

Brian Robiskie. The Bears do have some offensive weapons, but not near enough to take full advantage of Cutler. Matt Forte is a good pass catcher out of the backfield, and Greg Olsen is one of the better receiving tight ends in the league. Devin Hester has the tools to be a scary deep threat, and Earl Bennett and Rashied Davis can provide receiving depth. Bennett, specifically, should show a dramatic improvement in year two, especially with a quarterback he played with for a year in college. The problem is the Bears don't have a bonafide possession receiver. The 6-foot-3 receiver from Ohio State fits that role to a T. He's a chain-mover who also blocks well. He fits well into the underneath and quick out guy, while Hester would be the burner who goes deep.

Robiskie would have to be rushed onto the field to fill this need as a rookie, but he's got the background for it. His father is a former NFL player and a current assistant coach, so football smarts are in the blood. He's got the reputation of a hard worker, too, so you can expect he'd do as much work as needed to be done to fulfill the role of possession receiver for 2009 and beyond in Chicago.

The only problem is that he'll probably be taken before the Bears have their first pick, but we did see receivers plummet in last year's draft, so there's hope of a free-fall. It's more likely they'll be choosing from the likes of Juaquin Iglesias and Mohamed Massaquoi, both of whom would work just fine.

Other Needs

With the lack of high draft picks, the Bears have put themselves in a position where they must trust the majority of their defensive personnel. As I've discussed before (point number 3), having Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli in charge of the scheme instead of Bob Babich is going to have to be the major change on the defensive side of the ball. They will need to add a safety and probably one pass rusher to the mix via draft, but that can't come at the expense of getting at least one more offensive playmaker.

The Bears do have a load of later picks in the draft. They have a compensatory pick at the end of Round 3 before having a fourth, two in the fifth, a sixth, and two compensatory seventh round picks. With everything I've said above, here is how I believe the Bears' dream draft would play out:

2 - Brian Robiskie
3 - a WR from the Iglesias/Williams/Massaquoi group
4 - safety
5 - pass rusher
5- safety again
6 - best offensive or defensive lineman available for depth
7s - WR, CB depth and backup RB all worth considering

My rationale for grabbing the receivers earlier than the safeties is that Jerry Angelo has shown he's pretty bad at finding offensive talent in the draft (Forte notwithstanding), yet rather astute at landing defensive players late. I'd rather have him go with the more talented receivers earlier and try to nail another late defensive gem.