News | April 26, 2013

Bears Select Kyle Long in First Round of NFL Draft

News | April 26, 2013

Kyle Long

If you live in Chicago then it’s probably a safe assumption that you are a Chicago Bears fan. You may just be a casual fan that watches the games when you have friends over, you may be a diehard tailgating fan that argues in the parking lot pre-game, or you may fall somewhere in the middle. Whatever type of fan you are, it’s almost certain that you were saddened by the news that Brian Urlacher will no longer be playing for the team. With that bitter realization comes other questions, mainly who we are going to get in the NFL draft, which started yesterday. It was rumored and whispered that the Bears were going to draft Manti Te’o with the 20th pick of the first round as to try and make up for Urlacher’s lost presence at middle linebacker, that didn’t happen.

What the Bears did was sign Oregon Ducks guard Kyle Long. Now I don’t know much about him, mostly because he began his college career as a baseball player and then decided to play football at a community college before his one year of playing FBS football, and in that one year only had one start. Basically he doesn’t really have much football experience. I’m no football genius, but that feels like a questionable first-round pick, even the analysts were confused on this one. But the Bears are known to make some screwball front office decisions, so we have to go with it. Since the pick is made and we can’t go back, allow me to focus on the positive.

Kyle Long comes from a great football family so it may be in his genes to also be great, his father is Hall of Famer Howie Long and his brother is currently a DE for the St. Louis Rams. He has excellent size and at 313 pounds he had the lowest body fat percentage of the offensive lineman. With his relative speed and strength, he should be a big help to Cutler and hopefully give him more time to get the ball downfield by giving him added protection. He seems like he’s a high character guy and seemed grateful while acknowledging that even he was surprised at his getting picked so early saying, “I’m very excited and grateful to be a Chicago Bear…I didn’t expect to go this high in the draft, and I’m just very excited to join an organization with such a great history and such a great fan base. Not enough can be said about the Chicago Bears organization.” I’m willing to give him a chance and hope for the best. Plus my favorite Bear, Lance Briggs, seems to be excited about the pick, so I’m on board as well.

Source: ESPN Chicago

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