Do the Bears already have Brian Urlacher’s replacement?
When a team parts with one of the best middle linebackers in NFL history, every mock that’s mocked in April will give said team the best player available at the position when they’re on the clock in the first round. Of course, projections for who exactly should be selected differ, with draftniks yelling and slobbering. Or maybe it’s just me slobbering, but either way, there’s great anger.
Brian Urlacher was sort of pretty good in Chicago, and now after spending 14 years with the Bears he was released to seek employment elsewhere. That’s why this year, the Bears’ first-round direction seems abundantly obvious, especially since they’re slightly lacking in picks throughout the rest of the draft (their third rounder went to Miami as part of the Brandon Marshall trade, and a seventh rounder went to Tampa Bay for Brian Price).
But maybe the Bears have done enough offseason maneuvering already to decrease the urgency at middle linebacker, and they can address another need in the first round. Since I do intense investigative journalism around here, I asked Mike Burzawa from Bear Goggles On about Urlacher, and he kindly responded.
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