Luke Easterling’s 7 round mock: Bears Picks

[wab]

Continuing my Bears mock draft roundup as we move to Thursday...

This is Easterling's draft.

PICK 87
Miles Sanders | RB | Penn State

*Notes
Josh Oliver and JoJuan Williams went in the next two picks. Darrel Henderson went 5 picks later.

PICK 126
Kris Boyd | CB/S | Texas

*Notes
Dru Samia and Ben Banogu are two guys connected to the Bears that went right before this pick. Easterling is also one of the few guys I’ve seen that had Mark Fields going way earlier than expected (pick 112 to the Bills).

Oli Udoh went 5 picks later (also to the Bills).

PICK 162
Chuma Edoga | OT | USC

*Notes
No one of particular note went before or after the Bears pick in the 5th round.

PICK 222
Derick Roberson | EDGE | Sam Houston State

*Notes
Cole Tracy was still available and made a bit more sense considering the Bears needs and the value Tracy presents in R7.

PICK 238
Ryan Connelly | LB | Wisconsin

*Notes
Corey Ballentine went one pick later.

Overall Analysis:

This is probably my favorite overall draft. Easterling is one of many that slot Sanders to the Bears. As ideal as that would be, it’s looking less and less likely unless the Bears trade up.

I like Boyd. He’s an ideal Pace pick for a safety because he’s got corner skills who will move to safety in the NFL. He times fast, but isn’t overly athletic. He is at is best when he can play downhill and won’t have his weaknesses exposed outside. Similar in a lot of ways to Deon Bush.

Udoga is one of the most athletic offensive linemen in the country, but scouts feel his size limits him as a bookend tackle. They also said the same thing about Charles Leno and Udoga has a similar build with longer arms.

In R7, Easterling did the best he could with what was left. As I mentioned, Tracy represented a bigger need at 222, but it’s hard to argue with his pick of Roberson. Dude was a monster for Sam Houston State in 2018. He wasn’t good literally any time before that though. He does have pass rushing traits that you can’t teach, so maybe the light is just starting to come on for him. But, like Sanders in the 3rd, it’s hard to imagine Roberson being there given his upside.

The Connely pick didn’t make a lot of sense given the Bears depth at LB, but if my biggest complaint is the 238th pick in the draft I think I’ll be ok. Still, Connely doesn’t fit Pace’s late round pick profile of athletic upside type players. He’s instinctive and tough, but limited athletically. He is a great story though…former walk-on that worked his way up the depth chart. If he was picked, he’d probably end up on the practice squad.

[DaSuperfan]

I might prefer Henderson over Sanders right now. It's close, but I lean towards Henderson because of his big play ability. I like Sanders, but view him as the type of back that is good/average not great in all areas but doesn't really master one trait. Whereas Henderson has one trait you can really rely on, big plays, speed.

I would love for the Bears to have this problem come Day 2 - but I don't see any realistic scenario that has both Sanders and Henderson being available by the time pick 87 rolls around.