Chicago Bears: Wild card Kylie Fitts a diamond in the rough?
Injury concerns
How does a player with the athletic profile of Harold Landry and such an advanced pass-rush skill set for a college player fall to the sixth round of the draft?
In Fitts’ case, it was his inability to stay healthy that did him in.
Interestingly, his NFL.com scouting profile predicted that Fitts probably would go in the fourth or fifth round despite the injury concerns. But he ended up falling all the way to the sixth with the No. 181 pick.
What happened along the way, and should the Chicago Bears and their fans be worried about him?
After his promising 2015 season, Fitts looked poised to make the leap into the upper echelon of college football edge defenders before a Lisfranc tear in his right foot limited him to just two games in 2016.
Then, ankle and shoulder sprains limited him in 2017, though he still played eight games. All told, he musted just 4.5 sacks during his final two seasons in Utah.
From @dpbrugler on Kylie Fitts: "Fitts brings juice off the edge with the foot quickness and active hand tactics to pressure the pocket. ... has NFL ability, but the best ability is reliability and his injury history is bright red flag that could hamper his draft grade."
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) April 28, 2018
When discussing his injuries with the Bears, he explained that last season’s injuries weren’t major, though they did hamper his ability to play to his potential. As such, now that he considers himself to be 100%, he believes the Chicago Bears will get something closer to the 2015 Kyle Fitts.
Apparently, that was enough to convince the Bears to draft him. The question is whether or not Fitts can actually remain healthy.
That said, drafting him in the sixth round might be a less risky gamble than taking Landry in the first two rounds, if he has knee and back issues that could hamper him long-term.
And if Fitts can remain healthy, the Chicago Bears could reap monster benefits from this pick.