ChicagoBreakingSports
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The last time the Bears went trolling for a player in the NFL's supplemental draft was 2003, when they put in a bid of a third-round draft pick for Georgia Tech running back Tony Hollings.
Luckily for general manager Jerry Angelo, the Bears didn't get Hollings, who went to the Houston Texans with a second-round draft pick. Nabbing him would have cost the team its third-round draft pick in 2004, the one that was used on wide receiver Bernard Berrian.
Now, the Bears will have to weigh the value of committing a 2011 draft pick for a running back, BYU's Harvey Unga. The Bears were one of 20 teams present at his pro day last week in Provo, Utah, and according to the Salt Lake Tribune, the workout was run by a scout from the Bears, likely West Coast regional scout Marty Barrett.
Does Barrett's attendance at the workout mean the Bears are definitely interested in the Cougars' all-time leading rusher? Not necessarily. Barrett could have been there doing his "due diligence," as Angelo likes to say, and perhaps getting a jump start on some work on BYU for the coming season. Also present was former Bears offensive tackle John Tait, a BYU product who was represented by agent Eric Metz, the same agent Unga has hired.
Photo: Former BYU running back Harvey Unga catches passes at a pro day workout. (Mark Johnston/AP)
Unga finds himself in the supplemental draft after he was booted out of school for violating an honor-code policy. He's in the same boat as Illinois defensive tackle Josh Price-Brent, hoping some team calls his name Thursday.
Unga measured 6-foot-1 and weighed 244 pounds, making him a tweener of sorts. Some teams figured he would declare for the April draft and the Bears had a decent grade on him, according to one source. But he made the ill-fated decision of returning to school and then was bounced.
Unga's 40-yard dash hovered in the low 4.6's. That's not going to excite anyone, but he's a big back and he bench-pressed 225 pounds 19 times.
While Unga would be the kind of powerful back the Bears don't have on their roster, they seem unlikely to draft him because they paid big money for Chester Taylor to combine with Matt Forte this season. They also have a collection of backs that they are already going to have to trim down.
Kahlil Bell got a chance last season and veteran Garrett Wolfe and undrafted free agent Brandon Minor are also in the mix. Don't forget fullbacks Will Ta'ufo'ou and Eddie Williams. The versatile Williams is a player the Bears liked a good deal a year ago before he was drafted by the Washington Redskins. There just doesn't look to be room for an extra back like Unga, especially if the team keeps four tight ends.
Even though the Bears didn't get Hollings in 2003, they did take a look at him. Hollings signed as a free agent during the 2006 offseason but was cut after three months, right before the start of training camp. He'd gotten 49 carries in three seasons with the Texans, enough for the Bears to know it was a good thing they didn't draft him with a third-round pick.
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