mark's madness

Chicago Bears Draft Picks: Draft Grade A+

Seriously, all you whiny Bears fans?

Here’s how the draft went down:

First Round: Jay Cutler – love him or hate him, he’s a double dip first rounder

Corey Wootton – yes, that’s 2 o’s and 2 t’s and then another o… if you’re keeping score in Scrabble that’s 14.

Second Round: Julius Peppers – look at player acquisition in a holistic way – draft or free agent signing… what’s the diff?  Even if you consider Peppers 1st round material and Cutler 2nd round, they’re both likely to contribute more this year than most first rounders.


Third Round: Major Wright – yes a real draft pick at number 75 overall.
Wright, who received high marks from scouts for his leadership qualities, instincts, speed, toughness and football smarts, said he was thrilled to get the call from the Bears, who recently sent defensive backs coach Jon Hoke down to Gainesville to work him out on the field and in the classroom. “Oh my God,” Wright said when asked about his reaction. “I literally ran down the street and just ran in the (house, to the) middle of the floor and started crying.” The Bears’ recent turnover at safety has made them want to cry often. They’ve made a total of 40 lineup changes at the free safety and strong safety positions since Smith became head coach in 2004. Stability in the secondary was Job One, especially at free safety, which has become more important with the league-wide emphasis on throwing the ball. Wright is expected, at the very least, to be active on game days, but neither Angelo nor Smith went so far as to say they expected him to start right away. “I would say he assumes he is going to come in and play fairly quick,” Smith said. “There is a long way to go before you put a rookie in a starting lineup. We feel good about some of our players that we have here right now. But we don’t have the depth at the position we need.” The Bears have focused on improving at free safety since about five minutes after the 2009 season ended with all of their safeties having combined for a total of one interception. “The secondary is what we targeted as our primary need,” Angelo said. “The safety position and the corner position was really a coin toss in our minds, so whoever the best player was, we were going to take.”

Fourth Round: Corey Wootton – yes, that’s 2 o’s and 2 t’s and then another o… if you’re keeping score in Scrabble that’s 14.

Wootton’s banner 2008 season made him a strong candidate to apply for special eligibility for the 2009 NFL Draft, but a knee injury dictated that he return for a fifth season at Northwestern.  He returned to the Wildcats, starting 11 games in 2009. Wootton continued to improve as the season progressed, playing his best football in the last month of the regular season, as he recorded at least one tackle behind the line of scrimmage in each of Northwestern’s five contests on the schedule, including a quarterback sack in four of those five games. At Don Bosco Prep, Wootton was rated the 62nd-best offensive tackle in the nation and earned New Jersey Top 30 honors from Rivals.com, a recruiting service that listed him as a three-star prospect. The All-State, All-County and All- League selection also started at tight end and defensive end.  Playing for the top-ranked team in the Tri-State area, Wootton caught eight passes for 152 yards and recorded 62 tackles with five sacks, as he also scored a defensive touchdown for the Ironmen in 2004. One of his best games came vs. Bergen Catholic, when he recorded nine tackles, two pass deflections and a tip that led to an interception. He guided his team to its second straight state title that year. Don Bosco was rated the 15th-best team in the nation during his final year after finishing second nationally during his junior season on the USA Today poll, as the school stayed unbeaten both seasons.