Chicago Bears: 7-round mock draft 3.0 (with trades!)

Pick made by William Martin @W_M_Martin

“With their last pick in this year’s draft, Chicago will go local.

Dipping into Northwestern’s talent pool, Ryan Pace will take a flier on an intriguing running back prospect. While the Bears did re-sign Benny Cunningham this week, they may look to add more to the backfield. Cunningham did make his appearances on offense last season but has made most of his money on special teams.

Justin Jackson, on the other hand, could make his money on special teams and offense.

While the Bears did make an interesting add after final cuts last season by snagging Taquan Mizzell, he never once suited up. So while we don’t know what Chicago has in him, we do believe that Matt Nagy wants a squadron of running backs.

I get that a ton of people take digs at Jordan Howard because he can’t catch a cold. But I will bend over backwards for the guy; I love and appreciate him that much. Regardless if he can’t catch, he’s a damn good running back.

However, last year, he was nearly run into the ground. He faced eight-man boxes regularly and still found ways to churn yardage (albeit rather sporadic). Everyone loves Tarik Cohen. From his likable personality to his explosive and twitchy play-making, he’ll be a staple of the Bears offense for a while.

But he is small. Typically, while the smaller running backs in this league aren’t always fragile, they take quite the beating.

Enter Jackson.

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While he could do himself some favors by adding some more weight, he certainly isn’t small like Cohen (6-feet, 199 pounds). One of my favorite things about Jackson is that he is a more dangerous route runner than football fans probably realize. After finishing up at Northwestern, he had totaled 155 receptions for 858 yards to go with a lone score.

Comparing him to Howard, he has him beat by miles as the former UAB and Indiana product only totaled 24 catches for 261 yards with three scores. Jackson may never be considered a bell-cow back anytime soon, but he shows off some nice elusiveness as shown below.

2:20, 2:40, and 3:20 (watch the patience as his o-line sets up), are my favorite spots in the reel above.

Next: Cameron Meredith move Pace's worst as GM?

Matt Nagy had the luck to work with Kareem Hunt (who was a nice surprise) along with Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware. He obviously sees the value in adding more bodies to platoon behind the starter; the more versatile the better. Jackson will only add to what is a growing and tricky group of runners.