Chicago Bears: Blunt, unfiltered grades for 2020 NFL Draft picks
By Ryan Heckman
Round 5
DE/EDGE Trevis Gipson, Tulsa
Let’s start with the player. Trevis Gipson is a raw, underdeveloped pass rusher with a lot of physical, athletic traits. He flashes a heck of a lot of potential, which is why Pace took him. After the draft, Pace said he saw tremendous upside in Gipson. Pairing Gipson with the other edge rushers gives them great depth going forward.
But, mortgaging a future fourth-round pick to move up in this year’s fifth round to get Gipson? That makes no sense to me. Pace has to learn to stop sacrificing future draft capital unless he’s going to smash a home run with his pick, and Gipson is more of a project with a lot to like than he is a sure thing. Another draft pick lost and another pick where Pace pretends he’s smarter than everyone else.
Grade: C
Cornerback Kindle Vildor, Georgia Southern
The funny thing about the Kindle Vildor selection when comparing it to the previous pick is the fact that Boise State edge rusher Curtis Weaver was still on the board, and most would have liked Weaver instead of Gipson. Instead, Pace tried to bolster his cornerback room.
Vildor has a ton of promise and, like the Bears’ first three picks, he was a participant in the Senior Bowl. I think if you look at this pick for what it is and don’t take anything else into consideration, it was a decent pick. But, if you consider the Bears could have taken someone like guard Michael Onwenu out of Michigan instead, you like this pick a lot less. I’m not sure what Pace was thinking, here, to be honest.
Grade: C-
Wide Receiver Darnell Mooney, Tulane
Another pick in the fifth round? This was an interesting round for Pace. He traded back up once more, this time sending a pair of 2020 sixth rounders to the Philadelphia Eagles and swapping seventh-round picks to get here.
Darnell Mooney is a heck of a pick, here. He is exactly what the Bears needed in a speedy receiver who can stretch the field. This guy ran his 40-yard dash in a blazing 4.38 seconds. He also possesses a 37-inch vertical. The athletic traits are impressive, but Mooney has to work on his drops. Overall, this was Pace’s second-best pick of the draft.