Even More Smoke...

Let's discuss the 2009 Chicago Bears draft shall we? Obviously the first name that would and should come to mind right away is Johnny Knox - a 5th round pick from Abilene Christian who has emerged as one of the top Wide Receivers on the team. I won't get into how much being one of the top receivers on the Bears is very much in the discussion of the Tallest Midget Award as that's another argument for another time. Instead I'd like to focus on the Bears selections and where they are today with the release of the 53 man roster.

Jarron "Jump Out Of The Pool" Gilbert was their first selection in the third round. He is now officially property of the New York Jets. Sure guys like Dan Pompei will argue that he's better served in a 3-4 defense, but the word out of Bear camp was that Gilbert "couldn't play dead", let alone practice with a pulse, which made him all the more expendable. So that's strike one.

Juaquin Iglesias was also taken out to the woodshed as well as he was released on September 4. Iglesias was considered a good value in the third round as well despite running a 4.44 in the Combine. He was deemed too stupid to pick up Ron Turner's offense last year, which pretty much guaranteed no chance of learning Martz's offense, let alone understanding what his purpose in it was. He has been signed to the Bears Practice Squad for now, but unfortunately that won't change the fact that he's really not any good. So that's strike two.

Which leads us to the most stunning cut the Bears made, Al Afalava. Yeah I know he was a 6th round pick, but still. Afalava started 13 games last season, registered 15 tackles (1 sack), but more importantly had 0 picks. I'm not here to argue that Afalava was any good....but the Bears certainly argued that he was. They told anyone who would listen that he could play - to the point where they started him at a position that is VITAL to the Tampa 2's overall effectiveness. The Bears also happen to be very thin at safety even WITH Afalava. So the fact that they would cut him tells me either one of three things : Either Craig Steltz has made leaps and bounds with his play (UNLIKELY), same goes with Major Wright (REALLY UNLIKELY), or that Chris Harris has dirty pictures of Lovie Smith. If either of those three are true, that would be strike 3.

I won't even mention how D.J. Moore, Henry Melton haven't done a damn thing either, and Marcus Freeman is now coaching at Ohio State after retiring due to an Enlarged Heart Condition. Put it all together, unless Lance Louis makes the Hall Of Fame, I don't see how the 2009 Draft was anything but a bad draft. If it wasn't for Knox- a draft pick the Bears wouldn't have even had were it not for the Cutler trade - this draft would have been a total disaster.