Chicago Bears: Three players Nagy, new coaching staff could target

Mike McGlinchey or Quenton Nelson

I’ve wondered if the Chicago Bears would take one of these guys in the NFL Draft for a while.

And with Hiestand, the man who helped turn them into what they are, currently on the Bears’ staff, look out. The chance of one of them going to the Bears just skyrocketed.

The Bears have a number of big needs on both sides of the ball, but offensive line stands out as one of the bigger ones.

In 2016, we would’ve viewed the Bears’ offensive line, especially their interior of Josh Sitton, Cody Whitehair and Kyle Long as arguably their greatest strength. But with both Sitton and Long battling injuries and Whitehair’s play suffering from constantly plugging the holes they left in 2017, that stability evaporated.

Now, Sitton’s contract makes him extremely cut-able (the Bears would save more than $7 million), and we don’t know where Long’s health will stand long-term.

Also, Bobby Massie probably doesn’t have a place in this new scheme, though he wasn’t great in the last scheme either. Plus, the Bears will save about $5.5 million by cutting him.

As such, the Bears really need some new blood on this offensive line. And Hiestand just happens to know of arguably the two best linemen in the entire draft class. In fact, Nelson probably is the best, period, though offensive guard isn’t a premium position.

Next: Solving the Bears' wide receiver problems in 2018

If the quarterbacks push McGlinchey and Nelson down to the Chicago Bears at #8 overall, expect those two names to be high on Ryan Pace’s draft board. If they got one of them, it could help catapult the Bears’ offensive potential into the stratosphere.