There is one player in Saturday’s NFL draft the Bears can and should pick–Wisconsin wide receiver Lee Evans.
He will be there at the Bears’ 14th spot. If that’s higher than they think he’s worth, they could trade back. But why? Evans not only fits a need, but he also might be the best available athlete, depending on who’s grading.
Evans is the fastest receiver in the draft. At 5 feet 10 inches, he’s not the biggest among this year’s extraordinarily large and gifted crop, but speed usually trumps height. When you have both, you have Randy Moss.
Moss is one of the players the Bears are chasing. His Minnesota Vikings finished first in the NFL in offense. The Green Bay Packers finished fourth in offense. The Bears finished 28th.
It caused Bears general manager Jerry Angelo to change his mind about the old philosophy of offense selling tickets and defense winning games.
“I don’t necessarily believe that anymore. I believe defense keeps you in games, offense wins them,” Angelo said. “You have to be able to score points today. You have to go out every week and feel you can put 24 on the board.”
Angelo’s predecessor, Mark Hatley, thought the same thing when he made David Terrell his first-round pick in 2001. Angelo can’t wait on Terrell any longer. According to at least one other team, the Bears have given Terrell’s agent permission to seek a trade and will pursue another wide receiver in Saturday’s draft. The Bears wouldn’t comment.
The 14 teams with winning records last season averaged 24.5 points. The 7-9 Bears averaged 17.6, about a touchdown shy. On defense, the Bears were closer to the winning teams. They gave up 21.6 points compared with 18.9 among winners.
New coach Lovie Smith’s most obvious need appears to be on the defensive line. He craves a “double-digit sacker.” Almost every mock draft has the Bears taking Miami defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, a younger version of departed heavyweights Ted Washington and Keith Traylor.
One mock draft this week had Wilfork, Oklahoma’s leaner defensive tackle Tommie Harris and Ohio State pass rusher Will Smith all available at the Bears’ spot. USC pass rusher Kenechi Udeze is another possibility, but some believe he will require shoulder surgery.
The Bears should resist them all for Evans. Even though they have spent their off-season adding offensive players and ignoring defense, Smith admitted, “We need someone who will make a guy miss and score.”
Smith was remembering his St. Louis defenses (the Rams led the league in takeaways last season), which were effective in large part because they almost always were playing with a lead thanks to the team’s high-powered offense.
Despite Angelo’s opinion about offense, he still prefers to draft defensive players. He said if all else is equal Saturday, he will go defense.
“We’re always going to lean toward defense,” Angelo said.
This is not necessarily contradictory to his feeling about offense.
“Defensive players are very, very hard to find, because you can’t really coach quickness, you can’t coach speed. You can manufacture offensive players a little easier than you can defensive players,” Angelo said.
A good defensive player has less chance to fail than, say, a Terrell or an Evans. Angelo always looks down at a pros-pect’s floor before he dreams about the ceiling. Even in the case of quarterback Rex Grossman, the fourth quarterback selected last year, Angelo figured the least he had was a serviceable young arm with good intangibles and a chance to develop. The Cincinnati Bengals still are dreaming about what they might have in No. 1 pick Carson Palmer.
You can manufacture a quarterback easier than you can a wide receiver. A quick, fast one like Evans is as hard to find as the defensive players Angelo cites.
Before he tore up a knee in the spring of 2002, Evans was on his way to the head of the 2003 draft class. His rehabilitation appears complete.
“That was a concern,” said Greg Gabriel, the Bears’ director of college scouting. “He played all year without a brace. He had a very good workout at Wisconsin. They don’t have a great quarterback up there, but he still had a very productive year.”
In the Bears’ new offense, a receiver has “to be athletic. He has to get in and out of cuts quickly,” Gabriel said.
Agreed one coach at Evans’ workout: “He’s so smooth and so graceful, he can make a tough catch look very easy. Catches the ball and adjusts to the ball extremely well. He can get in and out of breaks very quickly.”
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That coach was Mike Sherman, Green Bay Packers. Sherman’s personnel director is now Hatley, the man who chose Terrell. If the Bears don’t draft Evans, the Packers will be very happy.
David Haugh’s pick
14. BEARS, Vince Wilfork, DT, Miami
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo can move up or down to change the order of the Bears’ draft. He cannot change the Bears’ biggest necessity. The Bears must find a defensive tackle with the ability to play immediately.
Two players rated among the top-15 prospects, Wilfork and Tommie Harris of Oklahoma, fit that category. Harris figures to go in the top 10. That should leave Wilfork for the Bears.
Some people wonder how a 336-pound tackle would fit in Smith’s system. There has not been a defensive scheme designed yet that can’t find room for a guy who requires two blockers.
Terry Bannon’s pick
14. BEARS, Will Smith, DE, Ohio State
Any one of four defensive linemen in this draft would immediately improve the Bears. Three quarterbacks and three receivers will be gone by the time the Bears make the 14th pick, but Smith should be available and should be their choice. Oklahoma tackle Tommie Harris will be long gone before the 14th pick, and Southern Cal end Kenechi Udeze likely will be too.
Smith, the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year as a senior, can be the outside rusher the Bears need. The big negative is that he stands only 6 feet 2 3/4 inches, but the need for a lineman is too great
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Don Pierson’s mock draft
TEAM PLAYER POS. SCHOOL
1. San Diego Eli Manning QB Mississippi
2. Oakland Robert Gallery OT Iowa
3. Arizona Larry Fitzgerald WR Pittsburgh
4. New York Giants Philip Rivers QB N. Carolina St.
5. Washington Kellen Winslow Jr. TE Miami
6. Detroit Roy Williams WR Texas
7. Cleveland Sean Taylor S Miami
8. Atlanta DeAngelo Hall CB Virginia Tech
9. Jacksonville Kenechi Udeze DE USC
10. Houston Dunta Robinson CB S. Carolina
11. Pittsburgh Ben Roethlisberg QB Miami, Ohio
12. New York Jets Jonathan Vilma LB Miami
13. Buffalo Will Smith DE Ohio State
14. BEARS Lee Evans WR Wisconsin
15. Tampa Bay Vince Wilfork DT Miami
16. San Francisco Tommie Harris DT Oklahoma
17. Denver* Steven Jackson RB Oregon State
18. New Orleans Michael Clayton WR LSU
19. Minnesota D.J. Williams LB Miami
20. Miami Shawn Andrews OT Arkansas
21. New England** Chris Gamble CB Ohio State
22. Dallas Kevin Jones RB Virginia Tech
23. Seattle Marcus Tubbs DT Texas
24. Cincinnati* Will Poole CB USC
25. Green Bay Reggie Williams WR Washington
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26. St. Louis J.P. Losman QB Tulane
27. Tennessee Ben Troupe TE Florida
28. Philadelphia Vernon Carey G Miami
29. Indianapolis Karlos Dansby LB Auburn
30. Kansas City Rashaun Woods WR Oklahoma St.
31. Carolina Michael Jenkins WR Ohio State
32. New England Justin Smiley G Alabama
*Switched spots in trade of CB Deltha O’Neal from Denver
to Cincinnati.
**From Baltimore in trade of picks when Ravens selected QB
Kyle Boller in 2003
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