My rationale for taking Georgia inside linebacker Roquan Smith with the Chicago Bears’ eighth overall pick in the 2018 NFL Nation mock draft on SportsCenter stems from pure need, first and foremost.
It sounds great to say Team X will draft “the best available player” -- and some teams actually go that route -- but the Bears typically take the best available player ... at a position of need.
Truth be told, I would have chosen Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson had my colleague Mike Wells not taken Nelson sixth overall for the Indianapolis Colts on our show.
We’re not allowed to make trades in our mock draft, but if the draft plays out in real life like it did with the NFL Nation reporters -- Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield were the only two quarterbacks off the board in the top 10 -- the Bears will be in excellent shape to field trade calls about moving back to stockpile additional picks.
For my purposes, though, Smith is Chicago’s best choice after Nelson.
Most draft analysts view Smith and Virginia Tech’s Tremaine Edmunds as the two best linebackers in the draft class. Now, Edmunds possesses the crazy measurables that Bears general manager Ryan Pace is known to love (think Kevin White, Leonard Floyd and Mitchell Trubisky), but Smith is a more accomplished player at the moment. Haven’t the Bears taken enough projects? Isn’t it time to draft a player in the top 10 who can start Day 1 and play 100 percent of the snaps immediately?
Some have voiced concerns over Smith’s size -- scouts measured him at 6-foot-1, 236 pounds at the NFL combine in February.
Guess who else played inside linebacker at 6-foot-1 and close to 240 pounds?
Patrick Willis -- that’s who.
All Willis did was make seven Pro Bowls over the span of an eight-year career in San Francisco.
Of course, there’s no guarantee Smith becomes the next Patrick Willis, but Vic Fangio, who coached Willis and NaVorro Bowman with the 49ers, surely understands the importance of the inside linebacker position in his version of the 3-4 defense.
The Bears not only said goodbye to veteran inside backer Jerrell Freeman in the offseason but Danny Trevathan -- who’s also 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, coincidentally -- has missed 11 games since joining the Bears in 2016. Trevathan is a talented player, but his durability is, at best, questionable.
Smith appears to check most boxes: big-time program, winner in college, SEC defensive player of the year, sideline-to-sideline speed and true leadership qualities.
The Bears probably would be thrilled to see Nelson last until No. 8, but Smith -- if still available, which is a big question mark -- instantly makes a top-10-caliber Chicago defense even better.