Taking a wide receiver like LSU’s Malik Nabers with the No. 9 pick in the NFL Draft might not be a priority for the Bears.
Matthew Hinton/AP
Bears fans’ desperation for a franchise quarterback is only a step or two ahead of their desperation for a franchise wide receiver.
Former general manager Phil Emery was a hero when he traded for three-time Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall six weeks after being hired in 2012. Alas, it was all too fleeting.
Three years later, Marshall was such a drag on the culture at Halas Hall that Emery’s successor, Ryan Pace, was hailed nearly as much for getting rid of him as Emery had been for acquiring him.
That’s typical of the Bears’ luck with receivers throughout their post-Sid Luckman-era history. Harlon Hill was a big-play sensation on a Hall of Fame arc for three seasons in the 1950s (134 receptions, 3,041 yards, 32 touchdowns in 36 games) before his production fizzled, and he was all but done at 28. Johnny Morris is still the Bears’ career leader in receiving yards with 5,059 — 56 seasons after his last game in 1967.
So it’s no wonder that even with the best receiving tandem in franchise history — and certainly the most accomplished — in DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, Bears fans are looking for more Thursday in the NFL Draft.
The dream scenario of GM Ryan Poles trading the No. 9 overall pick to move up and draft Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., the son of Colts Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison and one of the best receiving prospects in years, still exists.
And there is still hope the Bears will have a shot at LSU’s Malik Nabers or Washington’s Rome Odunze, two other receivers considered to have difference-making potential.
(That might be a bit of wishful mock-drafting, however, given that it’s possible all three of them might be gone by the No. 9 pick.)
It also remains to be seen whether Poles is as fixated on a receiver as Bears fans are. With Moore and Allen already in the fold, he might have other priorities, especially if a trade-down deal is too good to pass up.
We’ll see about that. But look at it this way: If Poles is right about the more important pick in the draft — USC quarterback Caleb Williams in coordinator Shane Waldron’s offense — drafting a player such as Harrison won’t be as critical as it usually is for the Bears.
Good quarterbacks in good offenses make first-round receivers out of lower-round picks. Hitting on the Williams/Waldron connection would open up all sorts of possibilities that are kind of foreign to Bears fans. It’s the difference between Anthony Miller (second round, 50th overall) and Davante Adams (second round, 53rd).
The Packers turned second- and third-round (or lower) receivers into first-round production for decades with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Adams, Jordy Nelson (third round, 36th), Donald Driver (seventh round, 213th), Antonio Freeman (third round, 90th), Greg Jennings (second round, 52nd) and Randall Cobb (second round, 64th) make for quite a list.
The Saints’ most productive receivers in the Drew Brees era were Marques Colston (seventh round, 252nd) and Michael Thomas (second round, 47th). The Patriots’ most productive receiver in the Tom Brady era was Julian Edelman (seventh round, 232nd). The Steelers’ most productive receivers with Ben Roethlisberger were Antonio Brown (sixth round, 195th), Hines Ward (third round, 92nd) and Mike Wallace (third round, 84th).
All those quarterbacks won the Super Bowl at least once. Since 2008, in fact, the leading receiver on 14 of the 16 Super Bowl winners was drafted after the first round.
So if the Bears miss out on Harrison, Nabers and Odunze in this draft, they have all the hope they need in Williams. It’s more often the elite quarterback who makes the elite receiver than the other way around.