Chicago Bears: Keeping Tabs at the Texas A&M Pro Day

Which Texas A&M draft hopefuls may have caught the eyes of the Chicago Bears at the Aggies’ Pro Day?

While the Texas A&M Pro Day wasn’t full of SEC athletic freaks, it was a noteworthy event. The Chicago Bears and the other 31 teams in the NFL were in attendance for the A&M pro day, and with good reason.

There were a few prospects there worth getting a look at. I’m not just talking about the obvious future stud wideout Christian Kirk. It was reported that former Aggie Johnny Manziel was going to throw for scouts at the pro day a few days ago.

While this was a good opportunity for Manziel to continue to get exposure and get himself out in front of every team, it may not make much of a difference altogether. After the pro day, he said that the CFL would be the fallback option should he not garner any NFL attention.

Manziel recently performed in front of scouts last week. He already threw at the University of San Diego pro day, having himself some good success:

Out of the 13 teams there, there was a notable one watching the former Heisman Trophy winner:

Would the Bears have any serious interest?

So things just got a little more interesting. Now it’s conceivable that the Bears were there to watch other players going through drills (TE Ross Dwelley, DL Jonathan Petersen, WR Justin Priest, and K Jack Flatau). But while this was good exposure for these four, Manziel may have been the major beneficiary.

To back up Mitchell Trubisky, the Bears added Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray, two obvious Matt Nagy connections. Is it likely Chicago gives Manziel a camp contract to compete with Bray for the weekly inactive role? While it seems interesting to postulate, it’s not terribly likely. Even though I give Manziel props for taking his sobriety seriously and dealing with his bipolar disorder, Ryan Pace may take a pass on a guy with baggage.

If you recall, he went down a similar road with former 49er DE Ray McDonald, a player with off-field issues. One day later, he was immediately removed from the team after another domestic assault incident occurred.

There was a serious investigation of domestic assault with Manziel and his ex-girlfriend back in early 2016. Now, as of a couple weeks ago, Johnny Football is a married man. While things seem like they may go a bit more smoothly for himself and his wife, Pace may stand pat.

One of the top wideouts in the draft should have the Bears brass salivating.

The Bears killed it on the offensive end during free agency. Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, and Trey Burton all figure to have some sort of impact in helping out Trubisky.  To wit, I believe the Bears don’t draft a receiver until round four or five at the earliest. However, too many weapons isn’t always a bad thing.

While the Bears have needs in the trenches on both sides of the ball, Christian Kirk’s tantalizing upside may be too much to pass on. I’m not saying they should take him at eighth overall. But trading down or hoping he slips to 39th is a far more plausible situation.

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Kirk has a nice set of hands and has been touted as a smooth route-runner. Due to his stature at 5’1″, 201lbs., some football fans may pigeonhole him into a slot receiver role. But the reality is Kirk is far more versatile than that.

Similarly to Gabriel, Kirk showed last season he was capable of operating in and outside of the slot. In Matt Nagy’s offense, all receivers will be interchangeable. Meaning we could see some interesting alignments, such as having Robinson manning the slot while Burton and Gabriel play outside. Kirk’s addition would simply be to have another reliable target for Trubisky.

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In all likelihood, I anticipate the Bears will pass on Kirk. That’s not because he’s not a great talent. They simply have other more pressing needs around the roster that needs bolstering.

However, the front office not doing their due diligence on such a talent would be extremely surprising to me. A private workout or meeting should be on the horizon.

I suppose we’ll find out how much the Bears like him later this month.