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Chicago Bears Mock Draft: Combine Week edition

By William Martin

LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 29: Oakland Raiders fans gather as the team selects draft picks in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on April 29, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. National Football League owners voted in March to approve the team's application to relocate to Las Vegas. The Raiders are expected to begin play no later than 2020 in a planned 65,000-seat domed stadium to be built in Las Vegas at a cost of about USD 1.9 billion. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 29: Oakland Raiders fans gather as the team selects draft picks in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on April 29, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. National Football League owners voted in March to approve the team's application to relocate to Las Vegas. The Raiders are expected to begin play no later than 2020 in a planned 65,000-seat domed stadium to be built in Las Vegas at a cost of about USD 1.9 billion. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /
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Adam Trautman, Chicago Bears
(Photo: Butch Dill) /

While not a star-studded, top-heavy class, the tight end position in this group has a lot of guys who could be future starters. Or even stars.

(Note: this is the projected compensatory pick Chicago would be receiving from when Adrian Amos signed in Green Bay. As far as I know, the NFL has not confirmed these picks yet.)

This will probably be seen as something of a reach now, but there is the potential that the long-term returns outweigh the concerns. Albeit, quite a few people said the same thing about Adam Shaheen and look where he is right now. Speaking of, how ironic is it that I’m talking about the Bears drafting yet another small school tight end prospect, who was a basketball player, and has the name “Adam”?

Anyway, Adam Trautman has been on something of a heater over the last month or so and it’s hard to argue why. Senior Bowl Director Jim Nagy was hyping this guy last fall as one of the best small school prospects in the class and after the Senior Bowl practices and the game itself, you could see why.

The goal in mind for finding a tight end in this class is if he can answer the following question: Can you play the “U” role in the Matt Nagy offense?

Trautman typically operated as the “Y” tight end in Dayton’s scheme, typically lining up out wide, but did have experience lining up inline. This Adam has the athleticism, burst for a man of his size (6 feet, 5 inches and 251 lbs.) and the route running required to make the adjustments to be the “U” tight end that Nagy wants to deploy.

If the Bears land an established tight end in free agency on a one-year tag, that makes it easier to ease Trautman in. They still have Trey Burton on the hook for one more season before deciding if they should cut or keep him next offseason, so there would be fallbacks if Trautman isn’t ready.

Finding enough clips and footage of him doing work against FCS opposition isn’t too difficult, but against NCAA D1 teams is an entirely different story. Much like Shaheen, there will be something of a growing pain in the sense that Trautman will need to step up and develop faster than others normally would.

While he performed well at the Senior Bowl, he will need to prove that he is a capable blocker at the NFL level. His football IQ will be questioned because of the major step-up in competition. Teams might also think about how the Bears whiffed so hard on Shaheen and might stay away from any Day 2 projects. It’s a reason why I don’t think it’s crazy that he could slip to the fourth round. And if he does, this could be a George Kittle-type impact player if he hits.

(Maybe not as incredible as Kittle, but being half of that man-beast would be better than anything the Bears have had since Martellus Bennett).

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