Is there a draft in here?

As far as good weekends for the football obsessed, few can compare to the two day circus that is the NFL Draft.

For me, there are two levels of entertainment to this spectacle. The first is the pure volume of cool football highlights you get to see. The second is watching ESPN (try to) put together over 15 hours of live television on the fly.

Over the years, I've even come to appreciate the freak of nature that is Mel Kiper Jr. Can he be annoying? Yes. But as far as providing information and analysis across the entire draft, he's a monster. I mean, he'll have his initial board for the 2006 draft out this week.

Just sick. I hope he at least goes home and washes his hair.

I didn't get to watch much of the draft live this year. I was teaching all day Saturday, and sleeping/recording a good portion of the day Sunday. However, thanks to my friend Mark, the miracle of the interweb, and a somewhat slow day at work, I feel up to date on the Bears' prospects.

It seems to me that the Bears did a pretty good job of addressing their needs with talented quality selections. The most glamorous and immediately important pick for most teams is (obviously) the first round pick. This pick becomes more important when 1) a team's first round pick is the number 4 overall pick, and 2) there are talented players available at the very positions at which the team has needs.

For the Bears, I felt this was a really hard pick to screw up. They needed help at RB and WR, and there were 3 great RBs and 2 great WRs in the draft. So sitting at fourth, they were guaranteed a talented player at a position of need. And the player they got, running back Cedric Benson, was the best man for the job. Of the three RB prospects, he was the most productive, consistent, and healthy. He ran for 5500 yards and scored over 80 TDs as a four year starter for a Big 12 program.

I think he also ran for something like 8000 yards in high school. So at every level, this guy has been spectacularly productive. To boot, he and Thomas Jones are good foils for each other. I wasn't too high on Thomas Jones after last year, but I think he'll make a great back-up/change of pace guy for Benson. 

Of course, Suzy Kolber (who is not hot, Finn), she of I-want-to-kiss-you-Joe-Nameth fame, conducted one of the worst interviews I've ever seen with Benson right after he was drafted. Instead of asking something like "How does it feel to be drafted by the Chicago Bears, given their history of great running backs?" she asks him the grand existential question "Who is Cedric Benson?"

I don't blame him for getting pissed off. This isn't the Oprah Show. Overall, great choice by the Bears. 

The WR in the second round seems like a solid choice too. Fast guy who played for a big college program. Another dimension for the offense. And Kyle Orton in the 4th round, while not really a need pick, is a great value pick. He comes from a pro-style program and should flourish under Ron Turner. Of course, I hope he doesn't take a snap over the next three years, but still. He could have been a second round pick, easily.

Taken as a whole, this has been one of the strongest offseasons in recent memory for the Bears. After finishing last in offense last season, they've added the following pieces: 1. New, proven Offensive Coordinator in Ron Turner; 2. The most productive receiver in the league in the Moose; 3. Two new proven starters on the offensive line; 4. A franchise running back; and 5. Young depth and speed at wide receiver.

That's a pretty good haul for one offseason. And they've done it without breaking the bank. So it should be a pretty good year for the Bears.

Of course I say that every year.

jbg