Looking Back: 2009 Chicago Bears Draft

Most experts tell you that it takes 3 years to evaluate a draft. Most of these guys saved us the trouble and exited MUCH earlier:

3     68     Jarron Gilbert     DT    He can jump out of a pool and that's the extent of his talents.  Currently being trained at Sea World as he would never hurt a trainer or any living human being.
3     99     Juaquin Iglesias     WR     Couldn't play dead.  Another fine Angelo 3rd-round gem!
4     105     Henry Melton     DE     Melton has shown some flash after being moved to the inside.  It's taken a few years but he's starting to come on.
4    119     D.J. Moore     DB     Lots of mixed feelings on the young nickelback but I like Moore and think this was the best player taken this season which isn't high praise but ...
5     140     Johnny Knox     WR     Knox has shown great speed and straight line ability but he's a middle of the road NFL WR.  With the addition of Brandon Marshall in the offseason, this year is make-or-break for the kid out of Abilene Christian.
5     154     Marcus Freeman     LB     Currently washing cars with Mike Okwo and Dan Bazuin after not even making it out of camp
6     190     Al Afalava     DB     Another swing at miss at safety. Afalava never lived up to his hype and is out of the league.
7     246     Lance Louis     G     Talk about a guy who can't play dead. Amazingly he kept getting a chance.  Bears love their late-round BAD offensive lineman.
7     251     Derek Kinder     WR     Hard to expect a 7th-rounder to do much and he didn't.  Never made it out of camp.
   
So the best player in the 2009 draft was D.J. Moore.  Henry Melton has looked impressive now working on the inside and Knox is up in the air.  On a normal NFL-grading scale you would consider this a D+ draft. On the Jerry Angelo sliding-retard scale, I would give it two balloons and some sidewalk chalk.

Chicago Bears Draft: Second Guessing

With the 2009 draft in the books, I took a look back at who was available and where. First, trading back for less value once again shows why Jerry Angelo has sucked in the draft. In his defense however, there seems to be some good value picks that I even had to agree with. Below you will find the overall pick number, the player, position, school and my draft grade on my value board that ranged from A+ to UDFA (undrafted free agent).

In this version, we ignore the trade back and go with Chicago's first pick at 49 overall ... FS William Moore out of Mizzou.

Here's how it would have played out:
*49 William Moore FS Mizzou - B
99 Juaquin Iglesias WR Oklahoma - B-
119 D.J. Moore CB Vanderbilt - B
140 Marcus Freeman OLB Ohio State - B-
154 Duke Robinson OG Oklahoma - B
190 Ricky Jean-Francois DT LSU - C
246 Rashad Jennings RB Liberty - B-
251 Darry Beckwith MLB LSU - B-

In our second look, we'll pretend that trading down - and for all intents and purposes PISSING AWAY the qequivalent of a mid-4th round pick was some sort of super-genius move ...

t*68 Jarron Gilbert DT SJS - B-
99 Juaquin,Iglesias WR Oklahoma - B-
t*105 Lawrence Sidbury DE Richmond - B-
119 D.J. Moore CB Vanderbilt - B
140 Marcus Freeman OLB Ohio State - B-
154 Duke Robinson OG Oklahoma - B
190 Brandon Gibson WR Washington State - C-
246 Rashad Jennings RB Liberty - B-
251 Derek Pegues FS Mississippi State - C-

And there ya have it. I do like the pickups of Gilbert, Iglesias, Moore and Freeman as they were all very good value at their respective positions in the draft.