NFC North Rounds 2-3 Analysis: Which surprising pick will pay off?
The Bears added another weapon. Of course, Dan Campbell drafts the man in the mullet. And for the Green Bay Packers? It's the year of the wide receiver. Bob McGinn analyzes in full.
By Bob McGinn
On Day 1 of the NFL draft, the NFC North teams tended to their knitting, stood pat and made four meat and potatoes-type selections from football bluebloods Ohio State, Michigan and Texas.
On Friday night the division threw caution to the wind, participating in four of the 13 trades made across the league.
Detroit GM Brad Holmes traded up not once but twice, acquiring a guard in the second round and a wide receiver in the third round that spent his first three seasons 100 miles west on I-94 playing for Division II Hillsdale College. Chicago and Minnesota each traded down once whereas Green Bay sat tight picking where it was for another day.
Until the bitter disappointments of the playoffs, the NFC North easily ranked as the best of the eight divisions with a composite record of 45-23. By some metrics it was the most dominant division since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.
Round 1 was a time to plug needs for the division. On Friday, the Lions and especially the Packers, both with stacked depth charts, took shots at players with intriguing physical qualities.
Here’s an analysis of Day 2 in the draft for the NFC North teams.
And here’s the Day 1 column, in case you missed it.
(Note: You can get McGinn’s intel from scouts throughout his draft series, too. All links are here.)
CHICAGO BEARS (5-12)
2/39. LUTHER BURDEN, WR, Missouri (6-0, 206, 4.45)
2/56. OZZY TRAPILO, T, Boston College (6-8, 319, 5.26)
2/62. SHEMAR TURNER, DT, Texas A&M (6-3, 294, no 40)
The Bears still need a running back to pair with D’Andre Swift but don’t seem particularly worried about it. Only six ball carriers fell among the first 102 selections. Ten to 15 prospects of interest remain, and with single choices in the fourth and fifth rounds to go with two in the seventh they’ll likely draft one if not two.