Williams was best possible pick for Bears
Editor's note: Former Glenbard West and Iowa star Matt Bowen played seven seasons in the NFL. He puts his DePaul journalism degree to use exclusively for suntimes.com/sports.
The Chris Williams pick shouldn’t come as a surprise to Bear fans. Yes, there are the fans who sat there for two hours crossing their fingers waiting for Rashard Mendenhall’s name to be called, but let’s look at the big picture: the Bears are not a good football team right now.
They can’t run the football and they can’t protect the passer. An offensive lineman is not only the safe pick but the smart pick as well.
Williams, from Vanderbilt, fits the most pressing need for the Bears in this lackluster draft. There are no studs at the skill positions and drafting another first-round running back isn’t going to pile up victories. There are no high-quality receivers or even a quarterback worth reaching for in this draft. So the lineman is the right pick. In fact it is the only pick.
From what I have gathered, Williams still may need polishing. That isn’t what you like to hear about your No. 1 guy, but he is athletic and can move. That's one quality the Bears don’t have right now on their O-line, outside of Olin Kreutz.
Williams had a pretty good combine, a great Senior Bowl — two things that translate into big dollars — and is said to have very good technique, which is hard to teach.
Here is a guy who can be the cornerstone of the Bears' line for the next eight seasons. A good offensive tackle is hard to come by in this league. If you can find one who can stick around for a while, go about his business, and make your running game better, why not draft him. Maybe this is a guy who will be able to block a guy like Michael Strahan off the edge or open holes for Cedric Benson to turn out some 100-yard games. Or even better, maybe Rex Grossman won’t have to run around the pocket looking for some place to escape or hide from another beat down.
Left tackles make just as much money as wide receivers and are paid comparably to quarterbacks. Why? Because these guys matter — a ton. They are the linchpins of the offensive line and can become dominant — to the point where they are irreplaceable. Teams become weak-side run dominant, and running backs become heroes because of the work these guys do.
Every good quarterback has a good left tackle, and every good running back follows one.
The Bears did their homework on this guy and believe he is worth the pick. In fact, I would bet they had Williams pegged for this spot months ago.
Sure, everyone wants to hear about a guy like Orlando Pace or Joe Thomas when they hear of a first-round tackle coming to their city, but those guys — minus No. 1 overall pick Jake Long, who is headed to Miami — aren’t around this year. Williams doesn’t have the name, but he obviously has the talent.
Taking another running back wasn’t the answer. The Bears waited until the second round to take Tulane running back Matt Forte with the 44th pick. The Bears already have a running back making top-ten money, so why dish out some more to a guy who played in a run-and-shoot style system and capitalized in an option oriented attack from the shotgun. Quality running backs are easily found on Sundays of draft weekend .
There are fans watching this draft in sports bars from 95th street to Rodgers Park, and even out to DeKalb who are questioning picking Williams. Well, keep questioning it, because there are no other answers. This is a good pick, not a great pick, but it fills a need that allows those players who we all question each Sunday (Grossman and Benson) to do their jobs better, and produce more.
Besides, this guy might allow the Bears to pick out of the top 15 next year.
