You could be right about them taking a DE somewhere in the draft but it all depends on how the picks play out. You also have to take a few things into consideration.
#1 Dennis Allen has a clear and obvious TYPE of player that he wants for the DE position, so that cuts out many players that may be good players but don't fit the scheme. This narrows down the options in each round, and at #10 its Mykel Williams or Shemar Stewart and hopefully its not Stewart.
#2 Ben Johnson is a former OC & TE coach that will be looking to build an offense around players that fit his own prototypes and ideology, so who is to say that he wants his 1st pick to be another toy for the defense? Everyone knows that he didn't exactly demand that the Lions keep Swift and just because Bears fans love Kmet, who's to say that he does?
The $48 Millions is from Spotrac. They list how much the Bears are spending for the Defensive Line on their site ($48,309,461) which places them in the top 10 overall. Adding another $23M in guaranteed money to the DE position with the #10 pick would definitely be a big deal.
As for my mock, I used a mock simulator and made choices based on availability and needs of the team. I could have forced the Bears to take a DE like Landon Jackson at #41 but after taking a very good DT Prospect at #39 I felt that the need is greater at LB. I love Edwards but he is slow and in his last year. Perhaps next season the Bears keep Edwards and move him to MLB and save money by cutting Edmunds. So to me Schwesinger will be more valuable than the 3rd/4th DE on the team.
Same thing happened again at FS, I love what Mukuba brings to the table and he looks like he can develop into the kind of player the Bears haven't had since Mike Brown or even Mark Carrier in the 90s, big hitters that are also ballhawks. Plus he fills a need.
In reality Grant may not even last to #72 because of his measurables but I do know that Braxton needs more competition than Amegadjie. Perhaps I could have gone DE at #86 but since I want a TE out of this deep draft and Arroyo is great I took him... Etc, Etc, Etc.
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