Official NFL Draft Thread - Bear Fans ONLY

[pseudonym]

Ersery would have been a great pick. At least you're getting an athlete and the guy who completely wiped out Abdul Carter in their head to head matchup.

Mike Green the NCAA sack leader with 17 sacks who dominated Ozzy Trapilo during Senior Bowl practices would have been a great pick.

Trapilo is not a great pick and calling him a great pick is exactly the Bears fluffy soft hyperbole I'm talking about.

It's all speculation. Let's revisit this down the road and we'll see how it works out. Green has/had OTF issues.

 

[DanielCCSBears]

It's all speculation. Let's revisit this down the road and we'll see how it works out. Green has/had OTF issues.

Why is it such a big deal to talk about them in terms of who is the better prospect?

Suddenly we can't talk about them in terms of prospects just talk about them after week 18.
The second I make my argument clear ya'll move the goal posts.

Go ahead and make the argument about why the Bears needed another WR.

Make the argument about why they passed on Mike Green when yet another potential great defensive player fell in their lap.

Make the argument about why Trapilo is a better prospect than Ersery.

Then tell me why it's so unreasonable to be critical of Ryan Poles when you look at the points I've made.

Do you only want to hear one opinion that you agree with?

Why is it okay to pass on guys with character concerns but it's to run up to the podium to draft guys with injuries?

 

[playthrough2001]

Excerpts from Fishbain on Hyppo and his pre-draft journey…​

“How Bears LB Ruben Hyppolite II went from no combine invite to fourth-round draft pick​

Kevin Fishbain

The fans, however, weren’t ready. Many in the media weren’t, either. In Dane Brugler’s draft guide, “The Beast,” Hyppolite didn’t have a scouting report. He was ranked 35th among linebackers and projected as an undrafted free agent.

Hyppolite wasn’t invited to the NFL combine. He went to one all-star game: the Hula Bowl. He was a productive player at Maryland and a team captain, but he didn’t boast ideal length. He wasn’t a household name. In the media, he seemed primed to be a rookie free agent.
Until he ran his 40.

Christina Phillips has been an NFL agent for 20 years, often working with linebackers. She watched Hyppolite’s tape and saw the speed. She saw how smooth he was — his hips, his footwork. The weight — 240 pounds — would work just fine.

In the winter, though, not enough NFL teams were seeing it. The combine invited 329 prospects to Indianapolis based on feedback from the clubs on draftable players. Hyppolite wasn’t on the list.

Phillips told him to call NFS (National Football Scouting, Inc.) to find out why his name was omitted. The first time he called, they told him to call back in a week. They’d have another wave of invites going out.

“When I called the second time, they said, ‘Nah, you’ll run at your pro day,’” Hyppolite told The Athletic in a conversation during rookie minicamp. “I wasn’t upset. I was a little aggravated. But I didn’t go in the tank. I said, ‘It’s time for me to get out the mud a little bit. And that’s what I did.’”

Phillips knew what her client had to do.

“The way to get the needle to move in the league during the draft process is to run fast,” she said.

If he could hit an eye-popping time in his 40-yard dash at Maryland’s pro day, scheduled a month after the combine, she could then send teams back to the film.

Growing up in South Florida, Hyppolite said he was always around fast people. He ran track in middle school and began his football career as a running back. He knew he could run.

When he got to high school, though, he switched to defense.

“I didn’t want to get hit,” he said. “I wanted to hit people. I find more joy in that.”

“Pressure’s a privilege,” Hyppolite said. “Going into it, if you saw me at the pro day, I heard nothing, saw nothing. I had tunnel vision. Couldn’t really explain the headspace I was in because that’s the mode I get into when it’s time to perform.”

In his 16 years of training draft prospects for the 40-yard dash, Boldon had never attended a pro day — until he went to College Park, Md., to watch Hyppolite.

Boldon admittedly didn’t love the run. He thought Hyppolite could’ve been even faster.

“But the building erupted,” he said.

Hyppolite didn’t slow down until he got to about 60 yards. He knew. “As soon as I ran that first 40, I was like, yeah, I’m in the door,” he said.

Maryland’s football account posted that he ran it in 4.39 seconds. In The Athletic’s draft prospect database compiled by Brugler, Hyppolite is credited with a 4.42.

Even the 4.42 would’ve tied for the fifth-fastest 40-yard dash for a linebacker at the combine dating back to 2006. It would’ve been the fastest for a linebacker at this year’s combine and a tenth of a second faster than first-round pick Jihaad Campbell.


Suddenly, teams had to go back to Hyppolite’s tape. And without getting to talk to him at the combine, they needed to learn more about Hyppolite the person and how he could handle the classroom part of football.
A handful of teams scheduled visits before the pro day, but once someone of Hyppolite’s size runs as fast as he does — paired with his college production — more work needs to be done.

The visit to Halas Hall won the Bears over.

“He’s very mature, and he’s very business-oriented,” defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. “He’s got his life together off the field, which is going to allow him to be able to focus on the field with the football. There’s not going to be a lot of outside distractions with this guy, and I think that’s a positive. I think he’s going to be a guy that’s going to learn how to be a pro really quickly because of that maturity level.”

On “1920 Football Drive,” Bears assistant director of college scouting Francis St. Paul said that “everybody loved him” when Hyppolite came to Lake Forest.

“You put a star by him,” St. Paul said. “(Allen) always speaks about speed, and we got it. … This guy is a great human being, great football character. He loves it. He’s a leader. To get that as well as a good football player, you can’t ask for anything more.”

With the 132nd pick in the draft, the Bears chose Hyppolite.

“A guy that is extremely smart, tough — and one thing, talking with (Allen), is we want to continue to add our team speed, and he can fly,” Poles said that night. “He’s a low 4.4 player that’s very active, but again, we like the combination of speed and the intelligence.”

As Poles chewed his gum and grinned from the draft room, exuding confidence over finding a player who wasn’t on the public radar, Bears fans scrambled to figure out who Hyppolite was.

They came here to read Brugler’s rankings. They headed to other draft websites. Immediately, the Bears were labeled as “reaching” for Hyppolite. How could a player who went to the Hula Bowl and didn’t get invited to the combine go in Round 4?

It serves as a reminder that 32 teams have 32 different sets of draft rankings, all of which differ from the draft boards in the media.

Hyppolite’s high school coach would send him links “where I was ranked, like, 600 or something.” He tried to ignore the prognosticators but said, “That caught my attention.”

“I used it as fuel,” he said. “It wasn’t my motivation. A little sprinkle of gasoline in the fire, I would say. I took that and ran with it. I wasn’t looking to prove anyone wrong; I wanted to prove myself right.”

With the offseason training program done, it doesn’t matter what one draft guru thought of Hyppolite in February. Now he’s a Bear, and he has a chance to come out of training camp as the third linebacker alongside T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds in the base defense.

Head coaches generally abhor singling out players in the spring, but Ben Johnson didn’t seem to mind. At the end of minicamp, he named three players, one of whom was Hyppolite.

The complete article is at the link below.

How Bears LB Ruben Hyppolite II went from no combine invite to fourth-round draft pickHow Bears LB Ruben Hyppolite II went from no combine invite to fourth-round draft pick

 

[Washington]

So the question is why one game didn't make the difference between the best pick in the draft and Ersery.

Whereas I used one example between two similar prospects to express my opinion and I'm the one who is using a strawman argument...

Add in the difference in athletic skills between Trapilo and Ersery and I'm in the wrong correct?

You used the one game as to why Ersery will be a guaranteed success and you used a few practice reps (Green vs Trapilo) as to why Trapilo won't be. You also used Trapilo's race as to why he won't succeed. Again, if Ersery was so great, why didn't he go higher?

You seem to want to avoid explaining why Ozzy's race has anything to do with his ability to succeed in the league.

We will learn more after these players actually play.

 

[DanielCCSBears]

You used the one game as to why Ersery will be a guaranteed success and you used a few practice reps (Green vs Trapilo) as to why Trapilo won't be. You also used Trapilo's race as to why he won't succeed. Again, if Ersery was so great, why didn't he go higher?

You seem to want to avoid explaining why Ozzy's race has anything to do with his ability to succeed in the league.

We will learn more after these players actually play.

Oh my god. Where did I say Ersery will be a guaranteed success? Just because I can articulate my argument doesn't mean I said he'll be a guaranteed success. How did you jump to that?

 

[pseudonym]

Why is it such a big deal to talk about them in terms of who is the better prospect?

Suddenly we can't talk about them in terms of prospects just talk about them after week 18.
The second I make my argument clear ya'll move the goal posts.

Go ahead and make the argument about why the Bears needed another WR.

Make the argument about why they passed on Mike Green when yet another potential great defensive player fell in their lap.

Make the argument about why Trapilo is a better prospect than Ersery.

Then tell me why it's so unreasonable to be critical of Ryan Poles when you look at the points I've made.

Do you only want to hear one opinion that you agree with?

Why is it okay to pass on guys with character concerns but it's to run up to the podium to draft guys with injuries?

That's a lot to unpack. I'll try to give you my POV—

We don't have the same information that the NFL does. So if the Bears pass on Green or Ersery, I'm going to trust that they know things that I don't. They, much like quite a few other NFL teams, passed on Green for longer than expected. Partly due to off field issues. I couldn't tell you who is a better prospect Ozzy vs. Ersery, but again, I'll default to the stats, info, and scouting that the Bears have over what I have. So sure, we can say that Green was an elite DE prospect, we can say Ersery was (maybe) a better prospect, but are we talking about raw talent or scheme fit? When I see how excited they are to have Ozzy, to pick him, I feel that he fits what Poles/Ben want to do the best. Loveland, Burden, Ozzy—I'm assuming they were on top of the boards they had.

What's the saying? "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."

Let's look at the Loveland pick for a moment. They took him over Warren, a TE that MANY had as TE1. Why? Was that a bad pick? Did they screw that up? Based on everything I'm hearing—Poles/Ben, media chatter about teams trading up for him, etc.—I think it was the right pick.

When I say it's all speculation, what I mean it s we all get worked up about guys, but until we see what they DO for the BEARS it's ALL speculation, conjecture, etc.

So sure, you can be upset they didn't take "your guy." But let's watch and see how it plays out. You can never judge a rookie draft class right away, you need to give it like three years to see who we truly got.

Not moving goalposts, just talking about various aspects of how we judge, rank, and lobby for certain players. Was I suprised by the Loveland pick? Definitely. Was I surprised with the Burden pick? For sure. Did I know who Ozzy was? I did not. But now that I have more information, I really love all three picks.

But only time will tell—so why not turn that frown upside down, brother, be an optimist instead of a pessimist, see that glass as half FULL. I know we all feel like Charlie Brown with Lucy yanking out the ball. But man, I have been impressed with everything I've seen from Ben.

 

[DanielCCSBears]

That's a lot to unpack. I'll try to give you my POV—

We don't have the same information that the NFL does. So if the Bears pass on Green or Ersery, I'm going to trust that they know things that I don't. They, much like quite a few other NFL teams, passed on Green for longer than expected. Partly due to off field issues. I couldn't tell you who is a better prospect Ozzy vs. Ersery, but again, I'll default to the stats, info, and scouting that the Bears have over what I have. So sure, we can say that Green was an elite DE prospect, we can say Ersery was (maybe) a better prospect, but are we talking about raw talent or scheme fit? When I see how excited they are to have Ozzy, to pick him, I feel that he fits what Poles/Ben want to do the best. Loveland, Burden, Ozzy—I'm assuming they were on top of the boards they had.

What's the saying? "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."

Let's look at the Loveland pick for a moment. They took him over Warren, a TE that MANY had as TE1. Why? Was that a bad pick? Did they screw that up? Based on everything I'm hearing—Poles/Ben, media chatter about teams trading up for him, etc.—I think it was the right pick.

When I say it's all speculation, what I mean it s we all get worked up about guys, but until we see what they DO for the BEARS it's ALL speculation, conjecture, etc.

So sure, you can be upset they didn't take "your guy." But let's watch and see how it plays out. You can never judge a rookie draft class right away, you need to give it like three years to see who we truly got.

Not moving goalposts, just talking about various aspects of how we judge, rank, and lobby for certain players. Was I suprised by the Loveland pick? Definitely. Was I surprised with the Burden pick? For sure. Did I know who Ozzy was? I did not. But now that I have more information, I really love all three picks.

But only time will tell—so why not turn that frown upside down, brother, be an optimist instead of a pessimist, see that glass as half FULL. I know we all feel like Charlie Brown with Lucy yanking out the ball. But man, I have been impressed with everything I've seen from Ben.

I'll be an optimist when the Bears give me a reason to be an optimist. Drafting injured players (that little part of my argument you missed) isn't a reason for optimism.

Publicly calling out Burden the way Ben Johnson did for his soft tissue injury also not reason for optimism.

That public call out correlating with criticism of him as a college player also not reason for optimism.

If Montez Sweat gets injured having Austin Booker as your primary backup also not reason for optimism.

Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen as Xs and Os guys reason for optimism. But as the saying goes it's about Jimmy's and Joe's vs Xs and Os.

 

[Canth]

I'll be an optimist when the Bears give me a reason to be an optimist. Drafting injured players (that little part of my argument you missed) isn't a reason for optimism.

Publicly calling out Burden the way Ben Johnson did for his soft tissue injury also not reason for optimism.

That public call out correlating with criticism of him as a college player also not reason for optimism.

If Montez Sweat gets injured having Austin Booker as your primary backup also not reason for optimism.

Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen as Xs and Os guys reason for optimism. But as the saying goes it's about Jimmy's and Joe's vs Xs and Os.

And this is part of why I hate the media narrative. Ben Johnson did not just walk up to the podium and start talking shit on Burden. He was answering a very specific question that the media posed to him about how will missing time affect Burden's ability to be ready for training camp.

Now, was there probably some frustration going on? I think so. But it was not an unprompted call out like you are trying to suggest.

Also, depth is an issue for every team. If you lose a key starter, it's generally not good. I would bet that if Sweat went down, they would also explore options like putting Turner on the edge more. I seriously doubt it would suddenly be Booker 100% of the time. And yes, there would be a drop off. No one has starters as back-ups at every position.

 

[DanielCCSBears]

And this is part of why I hate the media narrative. Ben Johnson did not just walk up to the podium and start talking shit on Burden. He was answering a very specific question that the media posed to him about how will missing time affect Burden's ability to be ready for training camp.

Now, was there probably some frustration going on? I think so. But it was not an unprompted call out like you are trying to suggest.

Also, depth is an issue for every team. If you lose a key starter, it's generally not good. I would bet that if Sweat went down, they would also explore options like putting Turner on the edge more. I seriously doubt it would suddenly be Booker 100% of the time. And yes, there would be a drop off. No one has starters as back-ups at every position.

Why do all of you constantly insist on putting words in my mouth? Does it make you feel better to lie about what I said?

I never said it was unprompted. It was prompted and very direct. I heard the audio from the question to the end of the answer.

Keep on twisting my words and opinion all you what it doesn't change the context of what I said.

My favorite so far is some people insisting we need to be patient with Burden. That's an extremely bad take because you don't take a player in the Top-40 to develop, you take a guy that comes in and makes an immediate impact.

 

[pseudonym]

I'll be an optimist when the Bears give me a reason to be an optimist. Drafting injured players (that little part of my argument you missed) isn't a reason for optimism.

Publicly calling out Burden the way Ben Johnson did for his soft tissue injury also not reason for optimism.

That public call out correlating with criticism of him as a college player also not reason for optimism.

If Montez Sweat gets injured having Austin Booker as your primary backup also not reason for optimism.

Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen as Xs and Os guys reason for optimism. But as the saying goes it's about Jimmy's and Joe's vs Xs and Os.

I hear you. With injuries, again, I'll default to them having faith the player/s will be okay. I trust their research and knowledge over mine, but I can understand your hesitation or frustration, sure. I feel like our DEF as a WHOLE has really improved. But yes, another elite DE (assuming that's an early pick next year) would be great.

 

[bamainatlanta]

Oh my god. Where did I say Ersery will be a guaranteed success? Just because I can articulate my argument doesn't mean I said he'll be a guaranteed success. How did you jump to that?

You said he would be a HoF’er and first team all pro in his first 10seasons in the league. Don’t quote me on this tho.

 

[Washington]

Oh my god. Where did I say Ersery will be a guaranteed success? Just because I can articulate my argument doesn't mean I said he'll be a guaranteed success. How did you jump to that?

Please explain why Ozzy will be a failure cuz he's white. You keep dodging that question.

 

[DanielCCSBears]

You said he would be a HoF’er and first team all pro in his first 10seasons in the league. Don’t quote me on this tho.

Oh yeah I forgot about that after drinking all day on my school bus.

 

[DanielCCSBears]

Please explain why Ozzy will be a failure cuz he's white. You keep dodging that question.

Because he's a horrible athlete with short arms on a 6-8 frame.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

My issue is someone stating something like a fact:

"Ersery is the better pick. Poles sucks". How do you know that? Is it proven? I personally would go with "I believe Ersery will prove to be the better pick. Time will tell. "

Until stuff plays out, everything is simply an opinion and conjecture. You speak in positives as if the outcome is known.

I criticize Poles all the time but maybe he will have the last laugh. I hope so. I SMH at this years draft and I too wanted different players but now that what is done is done, I have no choice but to wait for it to play out before grading it. I have stated my opinion on the draft over and over but I don't know for sure Poles didn't end being right all along. Perhaps your crystal ball is better than mine.

Answer this though, since Ersery shutdown the great Carter, why was he not drafted ahead of Carter? Seems like you have Ersery as a sure fire success with no chance at failure and Ozzy as a sure fire failure. Interesting too that you stated one of the reasons Ozzy will fail is because he's white. Care to explain that one.

@DanielCCSBears thinks he should be a GM. Instead, he drives a school bus. Now, for the record, there is nothing wrong with being a bus driver. I know a bunch of bus drivers, and they are all great people. The problem here is that life has clearly not worked out the way a guy like Daniel thinks it should have for him, and you, me, and every other poster here are the ones left to suffer.

 

[pseudonym]

Because he's a horrible athlete with short arms on a 6-8 frame.

Horrible athlete? I think that's a bit of a stretch. He has an RAS of 9.00—that's pretty good.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Horrible athlete? I think that's a bit of a stretch. He has an RAS of 9.00—that's pretty good.

RAS scores only matter when it's a player he wanted the Bears to draft.

 

[playthrough2001]

Because he's a horrible athlete with short arms on a 6-8 frame.

Are you right about anything?

Kent Lee Platte (Mathbomb) (@mathbomb.bsky.social)

Ozzy Trapilo was drafted in round 2 pick 56 in the 2025 draft class. He scored a 8.89 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 169 out of 1507 OT from 1987 to 2025. ras.football/ras-information/?PlayerID=27096&ovl=Boston+College

bsky.app

 

[Washington]

Because he's a horrible athlete with short arms on a 6-8 frame.

Those are different traits than being white. What does being white have to do with it? Are there and have there not been good OTs who are white? You keep dodging the question.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Those are different traits than being white. What does being white have to do with it? Are there and have there not been good OTs who are white. You keep dodging the question.

Was Anthony Munoz white?

CHECKMATE!