Mel Kiper on the Bears draft

The top needs I saw for the Bears were on the offensive line and along the defensive interior, where they've had some recent attrition. Carimi was a great value that late in Round 1, and is a player that can be moved along the line (presumably to right tackle) to help right away. Paea isn't a guy who will get a lot of penetration, but he'll help the Bears' linebackers avoid blockers. They also added some safety help, and took a shot on Enderle, a kid with a big arm who could develop behind Jay Cutler. I don't see Enderle as a starter, but a backup is a nice thing to have, and backup quarterback was actually a need position for the Bears, particularly given all the hits Cutler takes. Solid draft for the Bears, who got to get back in the early mix this year. Grade B

Is it presumed that we no longer have Haine? What is it about him that makes him invisable to EVERYONE in the NFL?

Everyone jumped on the GB bandwagon, and can only remember "the belt" at this point...

Enderle is NOT gonna be Cutler's backup. It's gotta be Hanie or a veteran. Hey, I heard Chad Pennington is a free agent now.

ya and the only way our backup is coming in is if the OL is so bad Cutler gets injured; why have Glass Joe Pennington as our backup only to get hurt and have Erldeleleleleleee come in?

Hanie is the backup. JA said the Bears have no plans to pursue a veteran FA QB.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

ya and the only way our backup is coming in is if the OL is so bad Cutler gets injured; why have Glass Joe Pennington as our backup only to get hurt and have Erldeleleleleleee come in?

---

We don't even know what this kid can do at the NFL Level... for all you know he could come in and take the #2 job. it's a long shot, but you can't rule it out yet.... we just don't know what we have in the kid yet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GeorgiaJeff

Hanie is the backup. JA said the Bears have no plans to pursue a veteran FA QB.

---

Exactly. Hanie is #2 unless Enderle wins it from him an I see that happening just about as much as I see 4th throwing a birthday part for JA at his place, LOL.

I don't get Kiper's take on Paea though. If you watch his higlight video all the guy does is penetrate on every play. The only guy spending more time in the other teams backfield is their QB. I can see him playing NT but that's definitely not his best position. What makes me salivate is thinking about both him and Melton at the DT spots on obvious passing downs. AA gets some push at times and Toe can break through and bring pressure but neither has the closing speed or gap shooting ability that I saw in Paea.

Paea says his DT idol is John Randle and that he patterns his game in that style. If Paea can become a slightly bigger version of Randle we'll have a real mother frocker for an inside pass rusher on our hands. Randle was scary and almost unblockable in prime.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GeorgiaJeff

Hanie is the backup. JA said the Bears have no plans to pursue a veteran FA QB.

---

Exactly. Hanie is the #2 unless Enderle wins the job from him (which is so unlikely that it hardly even warrants discussion). I would certainly hope that pursuing a "veteran" FA QB is off the table after drafting a developmental guy that Martz clearly had to want. We have way more important fish to fry in FA than looking for a 2011 Todd Collins.

A buddy at work today told me (and I haven't checked this out yet to see if it's true or not) that some yahoo-pundit on YahooSports graded the Bears' draft as an "F". That's utterly ridiculous. We got 2 starting-caliber, impact-caliber players at 2 critical positions of need and Conte & Thomas look like they both can be solid ST-contributors and potential future D-contributors as well. Considering we were picking at the bottom of every round and had no supplemental, 7th round, or "extra" picks, the Bears did pretty darn well. Kiper is panning it a bit too--should be a "B+" overall grade.

What other team did better with a comparable set of picks/locations?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GeorgiaJeff

Hanie is the backup. JA said the Bears have no plans to pursue a veteran FA QB.

---

Perhaps all the FA qbs said no after seeing the beating the beating Jay Cutler took last year. Rookies are young and stupid so that is our best shot at haivng a back up plan.