Teams looking to move up could change Bears’ draft plans
According to Mike Mulligan of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chiefs, Eagles and Texans may be looking to leapfrog the Bears in order to steal one of the coveted first-round offensive linemen. The coveted includes Boise State’s Ryan Clady, Virginia’s Branden Albert, Pittsburgh’s Jeff Otah and Vanderbilt’s Chris Williams.
The news creates an interesting twist in this year’s draft and opens up the possibility that none of the remaining top four linemen — Michigan’s Jake Long signed with the Dolphins — will be available when the Bears pick fourteenth.
If this becomes the reality for the Bears, then what will they do with their pick? The options seem to dwindle to trading it away for two or more later picks or selecting Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall. Drafting Mendenhall would assuredly create a lot of buzz in Chicago Bears fandom and not to mention, tickle the belly of Sun-Times butthead columnist Jay Mariotti, who is calling for the Bears to get Mendenhall anyway.
