General manager Ryan Poles, coach Matt Eberflus and their staffs could spend their first draft night with the Chicago Bears on the sideline.
The Bears don’t have a first-round draft pick Thursday after former general manager Ryan Pace traded it last year to move up for quarterback Justin Fields. So unless Poles engineers another trade, the Bears will spend the night watching the board unfold and plotting their Day 2 moves, which include two second-round picks and a third-rounder.
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s draft.
When and where is the NFL draft?
Round 1 will kick off at 7 p.m. CT Thursday, followed by Rounds 2-3 at 6 p.m. Friday and Rounds 4-7 at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Las Vegas — originally scheduled to host in 2020 before COVID-19 made the draft a virtual experience — gets the stage this year. And what a visual show it will be, with the Strip anchoring the events and a red-carpet stage at the Fountains of Bellagio.
The main stage for the draft is next to Caesars Forum and behind the High Roller observation wheel.
Portions of the Strip will be closed to vehicular traffic, which is a big deal in Vegas — usually reserved for New Year’s Eve and for the city’s marathon.
When do the Bears pick?
As it stands, the Bears have the following selections:
2nd round: No. 39
2nd round: No. 48
3rd round: No. 71
5th round: No. 148
5th round: No. 150
6th round: No. 186
How can I watch — or stream — all the rounds?
The draft will be on NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes from Thursday-Saturday.
Rich Eisen leads the NFL Network team, which also includes Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis, Ian Rapoport, Melissa Stark and more.
For the first two nights on ABC, Rece Davis, Todd McShay, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Sam Ponder, Jesse Palmer, Suzy Kolber, Laura Rutledge and Robert Griffin III will be among the analysts and reporters covering the event. Mike Greenberg, Mel Kiper Jr., Louis Riddick, Booger McFarland and Chris Mortensen will lead the ESPN coverage. The ESPN broadcast will be simulcast on ABC on Saturday.
Kiper, the 61-year-old analyst who has appeared on ESPN’s draft coverage every year since 1984, will be working from his Maryland home because he’s not vaccinated. NFL reporter Adam Schefter will not cover the draft because he will be attending his son’s college graduation.
What do the mock drafts say about the Bears?
Most analysts agree the Bears are most in need of offensive linemen, wide receivers and cornerbacks as they enter Poles’ first draft.
In Brad Biggs’ first Tribune mock draft, he suggested the Bears could pick Alabama cornerback Josh Jobe and wide receiver John Metchie III with their second-round selections. Biggs’ second mock draft sent Tulsa offensive tackle Tyler Smith and Florida cornerback Kaiir Elam to the Bears in the second round. Check back for Biggs’ third mock draft this week.
In ESPN’s three-round mock draft, Kiper and McShay had the Bears take Texas A&M guard Kenyon Green, Elam and Kentucky defensive end Josh Paschal.
What have the Bears done with their roster this offseason?
Some of the most notable moves Poles made in his low-key first few months were letting go of former Bears players. He traded Khalil Mack to the Los Angeles Chargers, let Allen Robinson, Akiem Hicks, James Daniels and Bilal Nichols go into free agency, and released Eddie Goldman, Danny Trevathan and Tarik Cohen.
After nixing the Larry Ogunjobi deal because of a failed physical, Poles’ biggest additions have been center Lucas Patrick, defensive tackle Justin Jones, defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, wide receiver Byron Pringle, linebacker Nicholas Morrow and backup quarterback Trevor Siemian. But the GM still has a lot of roster spots to fill.
Read about all the Bears moves so far here.
What have the Bears done in the last few drafts?
This will be the third time in four years the Bears haven’t had a first-round pick.
Pace sacrificed the pick last year to get Fields at No. 11 and also traded up to pick offensive tackle Teven Jenkins at No. 39. Pace also traded the Bears’ first-round picks in 2019 and 2020 to acquire Mack.
The Bears’ top picks in 2020 were second-rounders Cole Kmet and Jaylon Johnson, as well as fifth-rounders Darnell Mooney, Trevis Gipson and Kindle Vildor. In 2019, the Bears’ first pick was third-rounder David Montgomery, and the only other player from that five-person class still with the Bears is cornerback Duke Shelley.
Before that, inside linebacker Roquan Smith, quarterback Mitch Trubisky, outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and wide receiver Kevin White were Pace’s first four first-round picks. Smith, the No. 8 pick in 2018, is the only one of those four still with the team.
Any locals projected to be drafted?
There are a few — but mostly in later rounds. Here are some key names to watch for. (Projections based on a consensus of seven-round mock drafts by The Athletic, CBSSports.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com and Sporting News)
S Kyle Hamilton, Notre Dame, 1st round
DT Perrion Winfrey, Oklahoma (Lake Park), 1st-3rd
WR Alec Pierce, Cincinnati (Glenbard West), 2nd-4th
S Kerby Joseph, Illinois, 3rd-5th
DT John Ridgeway, Arkansas (Bloomington), 3rd-6th
RB Kyren Williams, Notre Dame, 4th-5th
WR Kevin Austin, Notre Dame, 4th-7th
QB Jack Coan, Notre Dame, 4th-7th
LB Jack Sanborn, Wisconsin (Lake Zurich), 4th-7th
OT Vederian Lowe, Illinois (Rockford Auburn), 5th-7th
C Doug Kramer, Illinois (Hinsdale Central), 7th-FA
LB Jake Hansen, Illinois, 7th-FA
P Blake Hayes, Illinois, 7th-FA
DE Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, Notre Dame, 7th-FA
OT Andrew Rupcich, Culver-Stockton (McHenry), 7th-FA
Is the draft back to ‘normal’ now?
COVID-19 disrupted the draft process the last two years.
In 2020, the NFL and its teams conducted the draft virtually, with general managers and coaches working from home to make picks. Last year in the pre-draft process, the NFL canceled the scouting combine and didn’t allow in-person prospect visits. Teams were allowed back in their facilities to draft, but there were some restrictions for teams that didn’t have fully vaccinated personnel.
This year, the process mostly has been back to normal. The combine and in-person prospect visits returned, and the NFL dropped its COVID-19 restrictions in March. Barring an outbreak, the Bears should be able to operate as usual from their draft room at Halas Hall.
Anything else to know?
Here are some fun NFL draft facts with a Chicago angle:
Chicago hosted the festivities in 1938, 1942-43, 1951, 1962-64 and 2015-16. Before 2015, the draft had been held in New York. But after Chicago, the draft has traveled to Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Tenn., and Cleveland.
A University of Chicago halfback was the first player chosen in an NFL draft. The Eagles made Jay Berwanger the No. 1 pick on Feb. 8, 1936, during the nine-round event at Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton. Berwanger had won the inaugural Heisman Trophy and the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the best player in the Big Ten when the Maroons were members of the conference. But he never played a down in the NFL.
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