The 2020 NFL Draft is taking place this week, albeit under unusual circumstances. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the NFL Draft will be taking place via video conferencing, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announcing the picks to everyone from his home. The show must go on and the Bears must fill some holes in their roster with their draft picks.
Chicago does not have that many draft picks this year, only seven to be exact. They do not even have their first round pick this year thanks to the Khalil Mack trade from 2018. That pick got sent to the Las Vegas Raiders, as it also did last year, meaning that the Bears do not start their drafting until the beginning of the second round. They have the 11th pick that round and have some really interesting options to go after. The general consensus is that the Bears need help in the defensive back and offensive line positions, with quarterback and tight ends being other potential needs.
The Bears have a good amount of options with their first second round pick, but three names really stand out: cornerback A.J. Terrell from Clemson, center Cesar Ruiz from Michigan, and cornerback Jeff Gladney from TCU. Terrell is probably the best player out of these three. He recorded 6 interceptions and over 100 tackles in his career with Clemson, which included an NCAA National Championship win in his sophomore year. Terrell is a very talented player and his draft stock has only increased in the past few months. That is why he probably won’t be available for the Bears to draft. That leaves Ruiz and Gladney as major options for the Bears.
Ruiz was a very good offensive lineman for the University of Michigan in his two years as starting center. He was consistently ranked as one of the best centers in the Big 10 conference, which is one of the best in college football. Ruiz brought a great combination of strength and athleticism to Michigan that looks like it will translate well to the NFL. Ruiz has also seen attention from some first round teams as well, so it will be interesting to see if he is even on the board for the Bears in the second round.
The final major prospect is Jeff Gladney. Gladney played for four seasons with TCU and recorded five interceptions and almost 150 tackles in the process. With all that in mind, I think the Bears pick Cesar Ruiz with their pick and Gladney with their other second round pick. These two should fill some big holes in Chicago’s offense and secondary respectively.
The Bears do not really have that many other holes, but there are some murmurings that the Bears could still draft a quarterback. This is despite the Bears trading for Nick Foles earlier this offseason. Adding another quarterback would be interesting, but not necessarily the smartest move. Chicago still has some faith in Mitchell Trubisky and specifically brought in Foles to act as competition to Trubisky, so adding another quarterback may complicate things.
However, if they were to draft a quarterback, watch out for Washington quarterback Jacob Eason and Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm. Both played really well in college, but both have accuracy and timing issues that can cause them to slip down the draft boards. Whoever the Bears draft on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, they will need to either have a lot of potential or be able to slip in immediately. The future of the Bears may depend on what happens over the course of those three nights, especially if the prospects drafted flame out.
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