Chicago Bears: The Case for Josh Jackson at No. 8
The Chicago Bears need to add a playmaker to its defense. Iowa defensive back Josh Jackson should be considered at No. 8 overall.
It seems like an eternity ago, but Chicago Bears fans can certainly remember the glory days of the Lovie Smith coached teams. Those teams relied upon a swarming defense, that routinely turned the ball over and put the offense in a position to succeed.
Unfortunately, while Vic Fangio has made dramatic improvements with the current unit, it still lacks the ability to create turnovers.
For this reason (and others), the Bears should strongly consider Iowa defensive back Josh Jackson at No. 8 overall.
Now, this is the part of the article where fans cry out “but he hasn’t appeared that high in any of the recent mock drafts!” This is also the part of the article, where I remind fans not to place too much emphasis on either mock drafts or a single NFL Combine statistic.
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Why he has slipped in mock drafts
At the beginning of NFL mock draft season, Jackson routinely appeared in the top fifteen overall picks. Recently, however, he has slid into the bottom half of the first round. Some mock drafts (for reasons that defy logic) even have him going in the second round. In reality, there is only one reason for this change of opinion — his 40-yard dash time.
Jackson ran a 4.56 at the combine and followed that up with a 4.52 at Iowa’s Pro Day. The consensus among scouts was that Jackson needed to post a 4.5 or better to lock in his status as a top fifteen pick. In other words, he just missed. However, it is absurd to think that what he did on the field could be marginalized by less than one-tenth of a second. Yet that is exactly what happened.