MOBILE, Ala. — As the Bears eye potential difference-makers with the Nos. 1 and 9 picks in the draft, they could get valuable -intel from the prospects themselves.
UCLA pass rusher Laiatu Latu, for example, is arguably the best at his position in this class, and general manager Ryan Poles and his staff have watched him at Senior Bowl practices this week. If they asked him about the consensus No. 1 pick, USC quarterback Caleb Williams, Latu would have a lot to say.
Williams and other candidates to go near the top of the draft aren’t playing in college all-star games, which is typical. But Latu went against him each of the last two seasons and can lay out the problems he presents.
“Shoot, he’s such an athlete,” said Latu, who’s playing on the National team this week. “I haven’t faced a QB like him.
“When you beat the tackle and you have a free angle at him, you can’t run full speed. He’s always got a move. He sees you no matter where you’re at on the field, and he’s got a move waiting for you to try and get around you. You’ve got to plant your feet and redirect, because he’s always bouncing from left to right, up and back.”
That’s an impressive scouting report. It’s also impressive that, as impossible as Latu made it sound, he sacked Williams twice both times he faced him.
Latu is agile and fast at 6-5, 261 pounds and has shined in Senior Bowl practices. Why is he participating when players rated as highly as he is often skip events like this? Latu thought of the neck injury that nearly ended his career and said, “I was told I could never play football again, so I can’t get enough of it.”
That answer will play well with the Bears.
His play speaks for itself after he racked up 23½ sacks over his junior and senior seasons, winning the Lombardi Award for “character, discipline and excellence” last season. But Latu already has been inundated with medical questions at the Senior Bowl.
Latu, 23, had what he thought was a minor neck injury as a sophomore at Washington. It turned out to be a slipped disc, he said, and the school’s medical staff advised him to retire in the spring of 2021.
Latu rejected that.
“You can call me stubborn, but 2½ months after my surgery, I went into playing men’s rugby and really testing my body tackling grown men,” he said. “I earned a contract from the Seattle Seawolves to play for them, and they’d pay me and put me in housing. But I turned that down because I wanted to chase my passion for football.”
He transferred to UCLA and was cleared to return for the 2022 season.
Since then, no issues.
“It was back-to-back, team after team, explaining the journey that I went on,” Latu said of his meetings with NFL personnel this week.
He seemed tired of rehashing it, but he anticipated it. There will be a lot more questions all the way up to the draft.
If the Bears are comfortable with his medical report, Latu makes a lot of sense for them at No. 9. Fortifying the pass rush remains a top priority even after trading for Montez Sweat, and it’s difficult to get top talent in that department outside of the draft. The Bears were second-to-last in sacks last season, it was obvious they needed someone fearsome opposite Sweat.
With at least three quarterbacks likely going high in the draft, the Bears still could have their choice of the top pass rusher at No. 9. And that’s a good idea. Top-10 picks should be used on the most important positions, and there’s nothing more important than quarterbacks and the pass rushers who can derail them.
