Grading the 2016 Draft

[staleystarch]

After going to this page you can click on the tabs to see the 2016 draft rankings for other divisions in the league. The only teams rated higher than the Bears are Dallas and Atlanta. This was clearly the best draft the Bears have had in a long long time.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... osts-bears" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit: Adding link to top five
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... high-marks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rusty Trombagent]

i think it's relevant in so far as people like to speculate that pace's job is in danger. his 2016 draft, the first with his scouting system in place, was excellent. 2015 draft was, as of right now, good (eddie goldman, adrian amos)... white obv being the outlier that could push it to very good.

i can buy that maybe fox is living on borrowed time, but pace is doing his job. we're drafting well, we're in great cap shape. his free agent splashes from last year (trevathan, freeman, hicks) were great. if fox ultimately fails to improve us, it's still an understandable hire. anytime i see one of those "mckaskey's thinking about blowing it all up" rumors i shake my damn head.

[Adipost]

It's hard to grade a draft after one season, but it's looking optimistic.

[staleystarch]

i think it's relevant in so far as people like to speculate that pace's job is in danger. his 2016 draft, the first with his scouting system in place, was excellent. 2015 draft was, as of right now, good (eddie goldman, adrian amos)... white obv being the outlier that could push it to very good.

i can buy that maybe fox is living on borrowed time, but pace is doing his job. we're drafting well, we're in great cap shape. his free agent splashes from last year (trevathan, freeman, hicks) were great. if fox ultimately fails to improve us, it's still an understandable hire. anytime i see one of those "mckaskey's thinking about blowing it all up" rumors i shake my damn head.

I really don't think the 2015 draft was all that great, but I give Pace a pass on that one. He did have to go off of Emery's scouting reports on that first draft. I just hope hope he can pull off a repeat of 2016. It will be difficult to do, but very possible.

[Rusty Trombagent]

I really don't think the 2015 draft was all that great, but I give Pace a pass on that one.

hey by bear's standards it was exceptional!

[Moriarty]

i think it's relevant in so far as people like to speculate that pace's job is in danger. his 2016 draft, the first with his scouting system in place, was excellent. 2015 draft was, as of right now, good (eddie goldman, adrian amos)... white obv being the outlier that could push it to very good.

i can buy that maybe fox is living on borrowed time, but pace is doing his job. we're drafting well, we're in great cap shape. his free agent splashes from last year (trevathan, freeman, hicks) were great. if fox ultimately fails to improve us, it's still an understandable hire. anytime i see one of those "mckaskey's thinking about blowing it all up" rumors i shake my damn head.

Overall, I love Pace's drafting.
But if you think the McCaskey's know what they're doing, you've misread the room.

[staleystarch]

i think it's relevant in so far as people like to speculate that pace's job is in danger. his 2016 draft, the first with his scouting system in place, was excellent. 2015 draft was, as of right now, good (eddie goldman, adrian amos)... white obv being the outlier that could push it to very good.

i can buy that maybe fox is living on borrowed time, but pace is doing his job. we're drafting well, we're in great cap shape. his free agent splashes from last year (trevathan, freeman, hicks) were great. if fox ultimately fails to improve us, it's still an understandable hire. anytime i see one of those "mckaskey's thinking about blowing it all up" rumors i shake my damn head.

Overall, I love Pace's drafting.
But if you think the McCaskey's know what they're doing, you've misread the room.

I like Pace's free agent acquisitions also. He is not blowing the bank on overpriced players from other teams. He has gotten some good moderately priced starters.

[Magnum_Ursus]

2015 is still a questionmark to some extent because White and Grasu have both been hurt, though Goldman and Amos were both solid picks and Langford is now at least a solid #2 back behind Howard.

2016 was a very good draft by all initial signs -- even with Floyd getting hurt, he looks the part of the top edge rusher available last year. Whitehair was probably the best interior OLineman in the draft and played well for us. Howard erupted and took over the starting RB spot. Hall, Bush, Kwiatkowski and Bullard are all guys who need to show more in year two, but at least show promise.

I'm cautiously willing to hop onboard the Pace hype train for this year.

[DaSuperfan]

If White can become the stud we drafted him to be, I think the 2015 draft would be a pretty good success as well. White and Goldman would become centerpieces and hitting on his first 2 picks as the Bears GM would be a coup IMO. However, White needs to prove himself this season and show the ability he displayed on the field when he was at WVU and also show he can be dependable, durable. Huge question marks on him right now. To get basically zero production out of the 7th player in the 2015 draft is a huge blow to the franchise's commitment of developing through the draft.

The 2016 draft is still too early to grade IMO but the early returns look very promising. So far I've been wrong about Floyd, he's shown more than what I was anticipating when we drafted him at 9. I thought when we drafted him that he was going to really struggle with strength at the pro level, and thus far he's shown that his length and technique are overcoming that weakness. He obviously has a lot of room to improve but I think if he builds on what he did last season, he could become a Pro Bowl edge rusher. Whitehair was a terrific pick. Trading down multiple times to land him was brilliant. His ability to come in and learn on the fly to be a good starting Center in the NFL was pretty amazing to see. How many rookies would have been able to flourish like that a week before the regular season started? I'm pretty sure he's going to beat out Grasu for that starting center spot. As for the others, nothing more I can say about Howard than what's already said. Bullard, Hall, Kwiatowski and Bush all have plenty of room to grow and show significant improvements in 2017. We'll see how they shake out.

I trust Pace and his scouting staff to find good players this year as well at the top of each round - not sure what their plan is, honestly - but I will trust whatever decision they decide to make, specifically at QB.

[BamaBear09]

If White can become the stud we drafted him to be, I think the 2015 draft would be a pretty good success as well. White and Goldman would become centerpieces and hitting on his first 2 picks as the Bears GM would be a coup IMO. However, White needs to prove himself this season and show the ability he displayed on the field when he was at WVU and also show he can be dependable, durable. Huge question marks on him right now. To get basically zero production out of the 7th player in the 2015 draft is a huge blow to the franchise's commitment of developing through the draft.

Outside of Amos's rookie year the 2015 draft is looking like an overall stinker... You have two guys who have missed at least a whole season due to injury, you have another guy who looks like a stud when he can actually stay on the field, but can't stay on the field. You have an RB who can't really run through an arm tackle and should have been replaced as the starter in camp and an overweight tackle who isn't in the league anymore. If things keep heading that way, we will look back and hold that draft up against 2011 or 2005 as one of the worst of this millennium so far...

[wab]

I always give the first draft of a new GM a pass. It's the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th that really determine how it's gonna go.

[BamaBear09]

I always give the first draft of a new GM a pass. It's the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th that really determine how it's gonna go.

I can see what he was shooting for with White, he has all the size and physical tools to be a weapon and Goldman would be a huge steal if he could stay on the field but I am guessing the injury bug is why he fell into the second round anyway, but definitely worth taking a chance with at that spot of the draft. Grasu was developing well and would have been a starter this year had it not been for the injury and Amos should bounce back. I do really hope these players can overcome the injury issues they have had because they all could help the team, just being a Bears fan for so long doesn't really give me optimism when things start to feel familiar...

[malk]

If White can become the stud we drafted him to be, I think the 2015 draft would be a pretty good success as well. White and Goldman would become centerpieces and hitting on his first 2 picks as the Bears GM would be a coup IMO. However, White needs to prove himself this season and show the ability he displayed on the field when he was at WVU and also show he can be dependable, durable. Huge question marks on him right now. To get basically zero production out of the 7th player in the 2015 draft is a huge blow to the franchise's commitment of developing through the draft.

Outside of Amos's rookie year the 2015 draft is looking like an overall stinker... You have two guys who have missed at least a whole season due to injury, you have another guy who looks like a stud when he can actually stay on the field, but can't stay on the field. You have an RB who can't really run through an arm tackle and should have been replaced as the starter in camp and an overweight tackle who isn't in the league anymore. If things keep heading that way, we will look back and hold that draft up against 2011 or 2005 as one of the worst of this millennium so far...

It wouldn't stop it being a stinker but I find it hard to apportion blame to Pace for White, Goldman and Grasu. Some draft classes are perpetual incompletes in my book. Obviously you can't have too many but there's little point in judging someone's luck.

[staleystarch]

If White can become the stud we drafted him to be, I think the 2015 draft would be a pretty good success as well. White and Goldman would become centerpieces and hitting on his first 2 picks as the Bears GM would be a coup IMO. However, White needs to prove himself this season and show the ability he displayed on the field when he was at WVU and also show he can be dependable, durable. Huge question marks on him right now. To get basically zero production out of the 7th player in the 2015 draft is a huge blow to the franchise's commitment of developing through the draft.

Outside of Amos's rookie year the 2015 draft is looking like an overall stinker... You have two guys who have missed at least a whole season due to injury, you have another guy who looks like a stud when he can actually stay on the field, but can't stay on the field. You have an RB who can't really run through an arm tackle and should have been replaced as the starter in camp and an overweight tackle who isn't in the league anymore. If things keep heading that way, we will look back and hold that draft up against 2011 or 2005 as one of the worst of this millennium so far...

That's pretty much how I see the 2015 draft.

[DaSuperfan]

If White can become the stud we drafted him to be, I think the 2015 draft would be a pretty good success as well. White and Goldman would become centerpieces and hitting on his first 2 picks as the Bears GM would be a coup IMO. However, White needs to prove himself this season and show the ability he displayed on the field when he was at WVU and also show he can be dependable, durable. Huge question marks on him right now. To get basically zero production out of the 7th player in the 2015 draft is a huge blow to the franchise's commitment of developing through the draft.

Outside of Amos's rookie year the 2015 draft is looking like an overall stinker... You have two guys who have missed at least a whole season due to injury, you have another guy who looks like a stud when he can actually stay on the field, but can't stay on the field. You have an RB who can't really run through an arm tackle and should have been replaced as the starter in camp and an overweight tackle who isn't in the league anymore. If things keep heading that way, we will look back and hold that draft up against 2011 or 2005 as one of the worst of this millennium so far...

As I said before, IF White and Goldman can just stay on the field, be productive, we'll look back at this draft as a success, IMO. Huge if obviously, but getting 2 studs with your first 2 picks would make up for the past 2 seasons.

[Boris13c]

As I said before, IF White and Goldman can just stay on the field, be productive, we'll look back at this draft as a success, IMO. Huge if obviously, but getting 2 studs with your first 2 picks would make up for the past 2 seasons.

the fact they haven't, and still may not, is just an unlucky roll of the dice ... doesn't mean they are bad players or bad picks, just useless ones if they can't actually be on the field to show it