3 draft mistakes to blame for Bears struggles in 2023

3. Velus Jones Jr.

The Chicago Bears missed hard on Velus Jones Jr. in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The Chicago Bears desperately needed a receiver entering the 2022 NFL Draft. They were seen as a team that could take one of the first or second-round options available to them but they did not. Of course, like most of their decisions, that turned out to be a mistake.

Instead, they used their third-round pick (71st overall) to select Velus Jones Jr. out of Tennessee. He was great in college and looked like someone who could be a great NFL receiver. The Bears were so wrong to take him with this pick.

He might be one of the biggest busts in the history of the franchise. He isn’t quite Kevin White but at least you could blame his downfall on injuries. Velus is just not a good NFL player. Maybe the Bears didn’t develop him right but he doesn’t even look competent out there.

Velus was supposed to be this great return man but he can’t even decide when is a good time to fair catch, let it go in the endzone, or run it out. This has been just a horrible selection for them and now he is even being healthy scratched again.

He won’t be on the team much longer but that is part of the problem. They could have had so much more success if they were smarter with their WR evaluation. We can only hope that it is a long time before they miss this badly again.