2006 draft, over confident or plain stupid?

['TD']

This is the draft following the 2005-2006 season.

 

To set the scene, the Bears had just finished with the best defense in the NFL with only 12.6 points allowed per game. They were also 2nd best in total yards allowed per game and 11th in rush and 5th in passing yards allowed. The Bears had the 2nd most int's of any team that year. They were tied for most Defensive TD's and in the top 10 in sacks.

 

 

The offense wasn't quite as productive. The Bears were 27th on points per game (16.3) and 29th in yards per game.

 

The defense was good, the offense was putrid, so lets draft a lot of offense right? Well, not exactly.

 

The Bears draft that year was as follows:

 

Trade down from the first..

 

2nd round

 

Danieal Manning, a safety that may look like a good pick if you saw his number of games started, but a horrible pick if you've seen him play.

 

Devon Hester, a special teams ace, but not so special on offense. He maybe a decent WR in future years, but as of now he has a hard time trying to figure out where to line up on offense.

 

Third Round

 

Dusty Dvoracek, the only thing that's not Dusty on him, is his seat on the bench. At this point in his career he's been in 1 game and has a solo and assisted tackle, singular.

 

Fourth Round

 

Jamar Williams He's shown so much potential that yet another LB was drafted the year after. Neither of which have seen playing time, and with the resigning of Briggs, probably won't.

 

Fifth Round

 

Mark Anderson After a stellar rookie year as a back up, he was promoted to starter and earned a new contract. The new contract he earned was for Brown and not himself.

 

Sixth Round

 

J. D. Runnels He may be in contention for starter on the practice squad at FB.

 

Tyler Reed He can't start on this VERY offensive line. Screw starting, is he even on the team?

 

 

Now I know, I was a little rough on some of these picks, but it is what it is. This draft showed it's share of over confidence as in the trade down to reach for small school D. Manning in the second round and the Bears feeling they could draft for luxury in the Hester pick in the second.

 

While the Hester pick did turn out better then anyone could have hoped, the offense was almost totally neglected in this draft. His pick might be the one to keep it from being the worst draft ever.

 

This year would be the boom or bust year for the offensive players we could/should have drafted that year. Instead we are going into the draft this year with the only person set at his position being the ever present Kruetz. I understand that it's nice to have competition at positions, but it's not so nice when you are trying to just find someone who won't blow too much at their positions. The only other guy who will definitely start on this offense is Tait. It's still up in the air as whether he will be a LT or RT as their is clamoring all over for the Bears to draft a rook LT in the first.

 

So here we are, we are looking at the 2008 draft and fastly approaching the 2008/2009 season.

 

Were the Bears A) Over confident in the draft above, Are they just plain ignorant or C) was there a legitimate method behind the madness. If C please explain why to me, and feel free to comment if you think A or B. With the Bears offense in it's current state I figured it'd be a good time to revisit this draft.

[Zod]

This is the draft following the 2005-2006 season.

 

To set the scene, the Bears had just finished with the best defense in the NFL with only 12.6 points allowed per game. They were also 2nd best in total yards allowed per game and 11th in rush and 5th in passing yards allowed. The Bears had the 2nd most int's of any team that year. They were tied for most Defensive TD's and in the top 10 in sacks.

 

 

The offense wasn't quite as productive. The Bears were 27th on points per game (16.3) and 29th in yards per game.

 

The defense was good, the offense was putrid, so lets draft a lot of offense right? Well, not exactly.

 

The Bears draft that year was as follows:

 

Trade down from the first..

 

2nd round

 

Danieal Manning, a safety that may look like a good pick if you saw his number of games started, but a horrible pick if you've seen him play.

 

Devon Hester, a special teams ace, but not so special on offense. He maybe a decent WR in future years, but as of now he has a hard time trying to figure out where to line up on offense.

 

Third Round

 

Dusty Dvoracek, the only thing that's not Dusty on him, is his seat on the bench. At this point in his career he's been in 1 game and has a solo and assisted tackle, singular.

 

Fourth Round

 

Jamar Williams He's shown so much potential that yet another LB was drafted the year after. Neither of which have seen playing time, and with the resigning of Briggs, probably won't.

 

Fifth Round

 

Mark Anderson After a stellar rookie year as a back up, he was promoted to starter and earned a new contract. The new contract he earned was for Brown and not himself.

 

Sixth Round

 

J. D. Runnels He may be in contention for starter on the practice squad at FB.

 

Tyler Reed He can't start on this VERY offensive line. Screw starting, is he even on the team?

 

 

Now I know, I was a little rough on some of these picks, but it is what it is. This draft showed it's share of over confidence as in the trade down to reach for small school D. Manning in the second round and the Bears feeling they could draft for luxury in the Hester pick in the second.

 

While the Hester pick did turn out better then anyone could have hoped, the offense was almost totally neglected in this draft. His pick might be the one to keep it from being the worst draft ever.

 

This year would be the boom or bust year for the offensive players we could/should have drafted that year. Instead we are going into the draft this year with the only person set at his position being the ever present Kruetz. I understand that it's nice to have competition at positions, but it's not so nice when you are trying to just find someone who won't blow too much at their positions. The only other guy who will definitely start on this offense is Tait. It's still up in the air as whether he will be a LT or RT as their is clamoring all over for the Bears to draft a rook LT in the first.

 

So here we are, we are looking at the 2008 draft and fastly approaching the 2008/2009 season.

 

Were the Bears A) Over confident in the draft above, Are they just plain ignorant or C) was there a legitimate method behind the madness. If C please explain why to me, and feel free to comment if you think A or B. With the Bears offense in it's current state I figured it'd be a good time to revisit this draft.

 

 

I say a little bit of everything. The Bears had experience success with FA o-linemen and finding FA offensive talent that did produce albeit for a short period time. It was this over confidence in their FA picks which lead them to believe they could cheat the fates and draft what they thought was the best players available. As for the legitimate madness remember in the playoffs it wasn't the offense that was expose it was the secondary and defense that was expose. So they gambled and went defense heavy again to try and win it all...but they came up short with only a superbowl appearance.

 

I would argue that the bears wouldn't have made the superbowl if it wasn't for the contributions of Devin Hester, Mark Anderson, and (sigh) yes even Daniel Manning. So in a sense JA's gamble to work... to a point. A superbowl appearance is nothing to be taken lightly. The bears may still be able to get 3-4 starters from this draft and that is considered a successful draft by any standards.

 

I still consider the 2006 draft a success...it's the 2007 that I found to be appalling, but that's a whole other can of worms.

[Mongo3451]

This is the draft following the 2005-2006 season.

 

To set the scene, the Bears had just finished with the best defense in the NFL with only 12.6 points allowed per game. They were also 2nd best in total yards allowed per game and 11th in rush and 5th in passing yards allowed. The Bears had the 2nd most int's of any team that year. They were tied for most Defensive TD's and in the top 10 in sacks.

 

The offense wasn't quite as productive. The Bears were 27th on points per game (16.3) and 29th in yards per game.

 

Were the Bears A) Over confident in the draft above, Are they just plain ignorant or C) was there a legitimate method behind the madness. If C please explain why to me, and feel free to comment if you think A or B. With the Bears offense in it's current state I figured it'd be a good time to revisit this draft.

I like that you started the post with factoids from the previous season, as it does tie into the madness.

 

The D was upcoming and nasty - I thought it was a great move to add talent to a strength, as the depth was not great and you want it to remain a strength. The pick of D Manning was a bad one and we are still paying for it. I liked the trade down and THEY sold me on the pick as I truly never heard of Daniel Manning before the draft. Dusty and Anderson, I thought to be great picks and still do.

 

The O was in development. The OL was solid, Rex was still future Favre, Cedric was in waiting, Berrian was rising, Moose was still decent, Bradley had promise. Sooo, they thought they pretty much had a red-shirt offense in the wings.

 

With all that being said, I think you can say the staffs' equation was A+B=C. The Bears drafted for zero needs and all potential. That truly is where you want to be as a franchise. My thoughts were and still are, that it was a great plan in theory. And we could have a few special players out of it. It's just unfortunate that JA and Lovie are not fortune tellers or good judges of offensive talent. My answer is C

[brletich]

I didn't have a whole lot of problem in the '06 draft at the time because we didn't have a lot of "needs". The offensive stats from 05 were misleading because we had a rookie QB who the staff hand-cuffed all season long. Would I have liked to see more offense in that draft? Probably but I was ok with it. My biggest problem, and where I think the arrogance of Lovie came into play was the pick of Dan Bazuin in '07. Sorry if there are any Bazuin fans out there, but in my eyes it was a wasted pick that could have been a good OL or WR. I just don't see where drafting him has, or will make our team better with Ogunleye, Brown, and Anderson in front of him for the forseeable future. Terrible pick and from what I have heard on the Score was an all Lovie pick, he wanted him and got him.

[nfoligno]

Agreed, not only on Bazuin, but on most of the '07 draft in general.

 

Bazuin - This just didn't make sense to me, especially after Anderson had the year he did. The only thing I can think is we made this pick w/ the expectation of moving Brown, but regardless, drafting a #3 DE (assuming we move Brown) was still very questionable in the 2nd round.

 

I also very much disliked our pair of 3rd rounders. Most reports I read about Okwo seemed to have his value more as a special teams player. His upside didn't appear great. Wolfe was simply a horrible pick IMHO. Day one is too early to take a 3rd down back w/ no potential to become a starter.

[madlithuanian]

Looking back, it alsmot seemd as though JA was over-confident in finding his diamonds-in-the-rough after getting Hester. Hopefully common sense prevails this year. (Regardless of Mendenhall v OL!)

 

Agreed, not only on Bazuin, but on most of the '07 draft in general.

 

Bazuin - This just didn't make sense to me, especially after Anderson had the year he did. The only thing I can think is we made this pick w/ the expectation of moving Brown, but regardless, drafting a #3 DE (assuming we move Brown) was still very questionable in the 2nd round.

 

I also very much disliked our pair of 3rd rounders. Most reports I read about Okwo seemed to have his value more as a special teams player. His upside didn't appear great. Wolfe was simply a horrible pick IMHO. Day one is too early to take a 3rd down back w/ no potential to become a starter.

['TD']

I hated last years draft myself. I brought up 2006 mainly because of how bad the offense was then and how we didn't address it.

 

You always read how good teams build through the draft. Well this team is historically bad on offense, and sadly we don't have much to have hope on from past drafts.

 

I'll list the players below that we have drafted for offense since JA's hiring.

 

2002

1st Marc Columbo- T

2nd Terrence Metcalf- Gaurd

6th Adrian Peterson - RB

6th Jamin Elliot - WR

6th Bryan Fletcher - TE

 

Well Columbo appears to be a good pick now, he was injured while he was here and gone now. Metcalf is a starter at the moment, but shouldn't be. Peterson is loved in Chicago, but isn't a starting RB.

 

2003

 

1st Rex Grossman-QB

5th Bobby Wade-WR

5th Justin Gage-WR

6th Brock Forsey- RB

7th Bryan Andersen- Gaurd

 

Grossman has had a history of injuries and erratic play. He is loved by some fans, hated by others. The fact he only received a one year dear this year makes it seem like more of a bust pick. The rest of the guys aren't here. While some are making contributions on other teams, there's no hop for our future there.

 

2004

3rd Bernard Berian - WR

5th Craig Krenzel - QB

 

Berrian was starting to shine as a WR. The Bears did not franchise him and couldn't bring him back.

2005

1st Cedric Benson - RB

2nd Mark Bradley- WR

4th Kyle Orton -QB

6th Areise Currie - WR

 

Benson played behind TJ and showed flashes. The flashes combined with the investiment made on him lead to a TJ trade and Benson starting last year. The line was bad and it's hard to tell if that hindered his play or he was just a bust. Bust or not, he has been plagued with injuries and the last of which could be a devastating one to his career. Not endearing himself to the fans and his stats from last year have fans screaming for a replacement this year.

 

Mark Bradley was a surprise pick in the second round. He was the third WR in college, but has the measurables that NFL teams love. Early in his caree, he showed great potential. Injuries put an end to this. Last year he was relegated back to the 5th WR.

 

Kyle Orton is loved by fans in Chicago due to his rookie year. He was a 4th round pick that was thrusted into the position of starter just a couple weeks before the seaon started. He didn't play well as expected, but he did not lose games for the team. He seems to be a solid back up, but I doubt he can be a starter in this league.

 

2006

6th J.D Runnels - FB

6th Tyler Reed - Guard

 

Nothing worth speaking about the players listed here. I did leave Hester off this list. He was drafted to be our returner and a back up CB. Last year he was switched till WR, but he struggled to pick up the offense and players had to show him where to line up a little too often. His game breaking skills gives a little hope for the future.

 

2007

1st Greg Olsen - TE

3rd Garrett Wolfe - RB

4th Josh Beekman - Guard

7th Aaron Bryant - T

 

The fans wanted a TE. They got it. He shown great potential at his position. Years to come will show what he has to bring to the table. Good value pick when drafted, but I questioned the move do to the needs in other areas of offense.

 

Garrett Wolfe, too small. Beekman couldn't get playing time when the season was over for the Bears, and the line was horrible.

[madlithuanian]

Good analysis TD!

 

I guess we all have reason to worry! (Not that it's that much of a surprise!)