INDIANAPOLISYes, Miami’s Kenny Phillips is a top talent at safety and most project he will be selected in the first round.
Don’t look for a lot of top-tier talent after him. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo gave a broad overview of the draft and called safety “anemic.”
Obviously, the Bears are in need of some help at the position. It’s unlikely they would use the 14th pick on Phillips at this point, although Angelo did not address that possibility.
Here is his breakdown of the draft:
Angelo: The draft obviously has its strengths and weaknesses. From my perspective, on the offensive side of the ball, all the young receivers came out, the juniors. It wasn’t a bevy of seniors, but the uncerclassmen at the wide receiver position … it’s a very talented group.
Quarterbacks, don’t know if there are any Hall of Fame type quarterbacks, franchise quarterbacks, even though one might go with the first pick in the draft, there’s a good handful of good, quality quarterbacks, players with traits, good resumes, works in progress so to speak.
Offensive line it’s a good crop of linemen on the top end.
Tight ends, probably what it usually is or has been in years past, OK, just depending on what you want to do within the framework of your scheme.
On the defenisve side of the ball, the defensive ends are very good. It’s a good crop of pass rushers, good-looking athletes.
Defensive tackles, harder to find, fewer of them it seems every year. It seems every year there’s just fewer and fewer, there’s just a few of them this year, so that’s a position that gets drafted maybe a round or two higher than where it normally goes because it’s a supply-and demand business.
It’s a good year for corners, I’ve seen a number of good corners. I don’t necessariuy say they’re great, but they’re good quality corners. I’ll be anxious to see how they workout and run. The two positions where you pay particularly close attention to in terms of the stopwatch are corner and wide receivers. They’ve got to run well for them to be legitimate prospects, but I think this is going to be a real good year for corners.
Safety position I think is anemic. Linebackers kind of a nondescript group, OK.
The strengths are more on offense this year than defense but overall it should be a good class.
