A Case For An All-Defense Chicago Bears 2016 Draft
By Erik Lambert
Nov 1, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) carries the ball against the Chicago Bears during the first half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
With a 2-5 record staring them down and little chances of still making the playoffs, the Chicago Bears must look ahead to 2016 and the next phase of their rebuilding efforts. Most of the focus will be on the draft and where they will look to improve. As unorthodox as it may sound, there is an undercurrent of theories that wonder if the team might not at least want to consider using their entire slate of picks on defense.
My argument is that draft is crap shoot. So why not take 8 defenders? If 3 are solid starters you had great weekend. https://t.co/cPkge9jkjb
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) November 2, 2015
In fact there are a number of reasons the team has to do so.
Offense Not Faced With Imminent Age Problem
One would think completely ignoring one side of the ball in a draft would be a disaster, but in truth that’s not the case provided that other side is still relatively young. The Bears have the good fortune of being in that situation as most of their key players aren’t even close to over the hill.
- Jay Cutler (32)
- Matt Forte (29)
- Alshon Jeffery (25)
- Kevin White (23)
- Eddie Royal (29)
- Martellus Bennett (28)
- Kyle Long (26)
- Matt Slauson (29)
- Hroniss Grasu (24)
Assuming Forte is gone next year, his replacement would be Jeremy Langford who is 23. So even by tacking on another year to all those ages, none of the key offensive players are technically out of their primes. It at least affords time to ignore that side of the ball for one draft.
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