Bears Take Long Shot in First Round

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Apr 26, 2013 3:30PM

While we were not surprised the Bears drafted offensive line in the first round of Thursday's NFL Draft, we were more shocked by the specific selection made. The Bears chose Oregon offensive guard Kyle Long with the 20th pick.

While Long has tons of upside, the 6-foot 6-inch, 313 pounder is more of a project than a Day One contributor. And the Bears reached a bit, as he was projected to be a second rounder after just one season playing offensive line at Oregon. With the selection, the Bears bypassed a number of quality defensive players like linebackers Alec Ogletree and Manti T'eo, cornerback Desmond Trufant and defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd.

The Bears aren't even the first Chicago professional sports team to draft Long. The White Sox did so back in 2008, when he was graduating from high school. But Long chose to attend Florida State on a baseball scholarship instead. He eventually decided to join the family business, played football at a junior college, and then ended up transferring to Oregon. Long is the son of Hall of Fame defensive lineman and current Fox NFL analyst Howie Long and the brother of the Rams' Chris Long. “Both dad and brother think that he’s the best athlete in the family,” GM Phil Emery said.

That pedigree and his displays of athleticism are apparently why Emery had Long so much higher on his draft board than others. "He is the type of athlete and player that we have targeted," Emery said. "Fast, tough, dynamic athlete. Obviously, he has had an interesting road. He's going to start out a guard. We feel he can be a starting right tackle. We feel he can be a good left tackle."

Given the instability along the Bears line in recent years, versatility is an important trait. And perhaps Long really does have the natural ability and attributes to become an elite offensive lineman in the NFL. The Bears moves in free agency did shore up the line in the short term, so perhaps taking a project on is the right move to ensure the long term stability of the front five. Emery made yet another unorthodox move — having already hired his coach out of the CFL — that will either help him build a reputation as a mad genius, or might contribute to his downfall. Clearly we won't know the answer for a couple years anyway.

However, Emery is convinced that Long, who only started four games for the Ducks can contribute from the start. "We see a player who is going to contribute right away," Emery said. "His Senior Bowl was excellent. I thought he was the best O-lineman on the field." An interesting observation in a draft that saw seven offensive lineman drafted ahead of Long. Either Emery saw something others missed, he has a hell of a lot of confidence in new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer's history of developing linemen, or he's trying to justify his unconventional pick.

With a raw talent chosen already, it will be interesting to see what direction the Bears go in subsequent rounds. They have one pick tonight, in the second round, after trading their third round pick as part of the Brandon Marshall deal. They'll draft three more times on Saturday. We'll recap the whole draft class on Monday.