In an interesting commentary on his latest mock draft, former ESPN analyst Todd McShay may have actually made a good argument for the Bears trading up instead to draft running back Ashton Jeanty.
McShay, now writing for The Ringer, had the Bears selecting tight end Tyler Warren from Penn State in his mock much the way Mel Kiper did for ESPN and many others have as the first round continued to take shape.
On his actual mock draft podcast, Warren asks: "Can you imagine the thought of what Ben Johnson is going to cook up in his little lab for Warren?"
In an appearance with Laurence Holmes and Matt Spiegel on Spiegel & Holmes, McShay loves the thought of Bears coach Ben Johnson devising ways for Warren to inflict damage on defenses.
.@McShay13 joined @SpiegsAndHolmes to explain which prospects and decisions in top 10 of the NFL Draft will affect the Bears as they hold the 10th overall pick.
Watch full segment: https://t.co/PUmwaVU2DE pic.twitter.com/78eQJyfmU4— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) April 11, 2025
"You've got a young quarterback who needs kind of security around him," McShay said on WSCR AM-670. "I think that he would be an awesome chess piece for Ben Johnson."
He echoed ESPN's Dan Orlovsky in saying the Bears need to run the pick up there if Warren's there and compared his skill set to Gronk.
"I think kind of his special trait is he's like a big bruising fullback when he gets the ball," McShay said.
No doubt the Bears would love this type of play, although it's disputable whether he acually is that type of runner and compares to Rob Gronkowski.
In talking about the running back situation and the Bears' need at this position, McShay says it's raining running backs so there's no real need to be chasing after any with trades up.
"This is the deepest, most talented running back class I've ever evaluated in 25 years," he said.
Then he proceeded to point out how Johnson made good with a one-two punch in Detroit, the David Montgomery-Jahmyr Gibbs tandem, and the Bears really don't need to be moving up as a result.
In the process, McShay paints a picture of Jeanty that does exactly the opposite of what he sought to do with his explanation for why the Bears should stay at No. 10.
"I haven't talked to an NFL team that doesn't have him in that top five and just about everyone I talked to thinks top three or four," McShay said.
He described Omarion Hampton as a mid-to-late first-round pick and te deep crop.
"I don't see why you move up because there is Omarion Hampton and there are all those other backs that I mentioned," he said.
Think about what McShay said about Jeanty for a second. Virtually every team puts him in their top five, many of them in the top three or four.
That's a special player. That's the range where the Bears found a special back in 1975 named Walter Payton.
Consider, then, how they don't have the explosive power back but have speed in the backfield already with D'Andre Swift. Would it not be better to trade away the pick and land the special player that the entire league seems to value rather than take someone who's pretty good later in the draft?
"You take advantage of having three picks in the top 41," McShay said, in urging the Bears to use those picks for players.
But saying they could take advantage of having three picks in the top 41 can work the other way. They have the ability there to give away one of those second-rounders and possibly some other later pick and move up five or six spots to get Jeanty, the player McShay just said the whole league thinks is special.
They could even give up their third-round pick with one of the second-round picks to do this because GM Ryan Poles doesn't seem to know how to make third-round picks, anyway.
He drafted Zacch Pickens, Velus Jones Jr. and Kiran Amegadjie, although the jury has to be out yet on Amegadjie due to how much time he missed in the offseason and training camp with an injury.
It's a real dilemma for the Bears sitting at No. 10, and they seem to be right on the edge of where the supply of "blue chip players" ends, according to McShay.
He might have intended to give the argument for staying put and using their picks but in the process opened a door exposing how good the league thinks Jeanty really is, and it makes little sense to give up a chance on a "special" player" when the means are there to acquire him.
