Bears Mock Draft Choices Fit the Situation
In the end, the unsettled situation on the Bears offensive line could play a big part in who they draft.
At least with some of the most recent mock drafts released it seems this way. CBS Sports' Josh Edwards and NFL.com's Cynthia Frelund released mock drafts and both came up with the same player for the Bears and basically for the same reason.
They can't go wrong by drafting Northwestern's Peter Skoronski because he's the best blocker and they need blocking. The fact his arms are short compared to many tackles doesn't deter them because, they think if he does need to become a guard then he can be moved. If not, then he handles tackle.
"My math suggests to build with Skoronski as a tackle and adjust accordingly to net the most wins," Frelund wrote.
Edwards was a bit more blunt about the state of the Bears linemen and found Skoronski's ability to be either tackle or guard an asset.
"Chicago needs to upgrade its interior offensive line as well as right tackle. Peter Skoronski has positional flexibility," Edwards wrote.
An interesting aspect of the Edwards mock is the Bears are so committed to fixing the offensive line that despite being the team with the fewest sacks in the league they took Skoronski after Tyree Wilson went to Atlanta and right before edge rushers Nolan Smith, Lukas Van Ness and Myles Murphy went in succession.
Edwards' mock does pursue the defensive help for the Bears after Round 1, landing B.J. Ojulari (aren't there enough new Bears already using their initials instead of their names?) at No. 53, the LSU edge rusher whose brother Azeez plays for the Giants.
With the last two picks, Edwards found the Bears two players they probably couldn't use.
He also found them a defensive tackle at No. 64 in Round 3, but not one they would likely take. It was Siaki Ika, the massive, 358-pound Baylor tackle who would be fine for a three-man front like they used to use but not the speed-based approach with a gap-shooting four-man line they now have.
And he had one other interesting pick with No. 61.
Apparently not satisified that D'Onta Foreman and Khalil Herbert are the answer to the post-David Montgomery era, Edwards has them draft a second-round running back who is more of a third-down type for the NFL, Texas A&M's Devon Achane.
At 5-9, 188, Achane is not lining up deep and smashing any defense so it seems an overreach in Round 2, but he did a spectacular job of returning kicks. If they could teach him to return punts it might be a better option.
One other mock draft this week did not agree with the first-round choice, although the position was the same. Sports Illustrated's Kevin Hanson conducted mock 5.0 and had the Bears take Ohio State tackle Paris Johnson Jr., who is the consensus mock choice for the Bears currently at 37% of mocks gathered by Mockdraftdatabase.com
"Johnson is ideally suited to play left tackle, given his combination of size, length and athleticism, but he started at both right guard ('21) and left tackle ('22) for Ohio State," Hanson wrote.
Again, it might be a different player, but the versatility for that offensive line is key.
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