Chicago Bears select Georgia WR Riley Ridley in Round 4

With their fourth-round pick, the Chicago Bears selected Georgia wide receiver Riley Ridley. He is the younger brother of Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley.

The Chicago Bears have added depth to their wide receiver corps, taking Georgia wide receiver Riley Ridley with the 126th overall pick. It’s obviously a best-player-avaiable pick as the team’s wide receiver corps was already pretty strong, but you can never have enough wide receivers.

The Bears saw both safety Amani Hooker and edge rusher Austin Bryant go just before their selection. They were guys the team could have brought in, but they lacked the immediate resources to trade up again to get their guy without tapping into next year’s draft picks.

Ridley is the younger brother of former Alabama and current Atlanta Falcons’ wide receiver, Calvin Ridley. Riley played in run first offense at Georgia but was still extremely productive. In three seasons, he accumulated 1,015 receiving yards on 69 receptions and 13 touchdowns. He was also utilized a little bit in the Bulldogs rushing attack carrying the ball four time for 46 yards during his time in Athens.

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Ridley ran a 4.58 40-yard dash with a 30.5-inch vertical jump, 124.0 inch broad jump and a three-cone drill time of 7.22 seconds. He is not the biggest receiver standing at 6′-1″ and weighing 200 pounds. Scouts have compared him to former Packers wide receiver James Jones, so expect Ridley to be wearing a hoodie on gamedays.

He was a great target for Jake Fromm at Georgia and is not afraid to go up and compete for a ball. Scouts also like his body control in mid-air. I really like this pick, but it potentially means that fellow Georgia teammate Javon Wims is not ready for the fourth wide receiver position. It could also be insurance should Anthony Miller have any set-backs from the offseason shoulder surgery.

It’s a solid pick for the Bears, but I probably would have gone with Alabama’s Deionte Thompson as the team needs to have long-term security at the safety position. I trust Ryan Pace knows what he is doing, so we shall see what they do with their sixth-round pick that they acquired from the Patriots.

Do you like this pick?