No. 31

Pick by Windy City Gridiron Lawrence Timmons Linebacker Florida State

WCG from Windy City Gridiron gets all explanatory on y'all:

I had three takers on moving out of the first and desperately wanted to move, but in the end they all backed down when we started talking terms. This mock draft could not go any better for the Bears than it has. The biggest need for the Bears is depth along the offensive line. Sears, Blaylock, Grubbs and Ugoh are all still on the board. We could have easily moved down picked up a few picks and still got one of these guys with the #37 pick.

If you know your mocks, a significant portion have names like Olsen, Miller, Rice, Jarrett and Smith, but again any move down has equal value. For TEs, Miller, Patrick and Chandler are still on the board.

I think the Bears will take a tight end in this draft, but it will be much later. Why the world thinks the Bears need a receiver at this spot I don't know. Muhammad has 3-4 years left in him, Berrian just broke out, Davis showed a lot and now with talks about putting Hester in the offense, all I can say is the NFC North best load up on defensive backs. The Bears will also take a receiver, but I'd guess on day two.

The Bears bread and butter is their defense if our offense comes along, well... that is just gravy, but why avoid a defensive player when the best options are there? I get so tired with 'experts' insisting that teams be balanced. You know what balance gets you? A trip to the playoffs that ends in a quick exit. Excel on one side of the ball and be good on the other.

The Bears select FSU linebacker Lawrence Timmons.

To play an outside linebacker in the Bears system requires that you are a good tackler and you can drop back into coverage. It is a disciplined system, so you don't have to freelance, you stay where you are supposed to be and take care of business when it comes your way. I don't know when and where and what will be the outcome of the squabble between the Bears and Lance Briggs, but he is likely on his way out at some point. The only real knock on Timmons is his inexperience, but we have a great new linebackers coach in Hardy Nickerson, a defensive minded head coach, a defensive coordinator who was our linebackers coach, so this kid has an oppurtunity on the Bears to be great that he wouldn't get many other places. Besides ask Rosey Covlin or Warrick Holdman about life without Urlacher. Urlacher covers mistakes and gives you the oppurtunity to take risks.

Timmons is a big time athlete and brings monster potential to the table. He is fast, explosive and a great pass rusher. He is a extremeley hard hitter and can cover a lot of ground very quickly. He is a ball hawk by nature. What about him isn't sounding like a born to be Bear?

Timmons will not be on the bench long and if anything he can be an immediate upgrade on our depleted special teams.