Three Senior Bowl prospect options for Bears |
MOBILE - The Reese’s Senior Bowl is yet another opportunity for NFL scouts to look at college players and see what fits their team’s needs. This game was dominated by the National team, who won 27-10. There were a few players who stood out who could really fit what the Bears need going into the 2023 NFL season.
Aubrey Miller was part of the transformation of Jackson State brought on by head coach Deion Sanders, who has now left the team. Miller had a good season; he had two sacks this season but had a total of 117 tackles with 12 of them for loss. Further, 64 of his tackles were solo tackles. He was a constant presence throughout the Senior Bowl. After trading Roquan Smith during the season, Chicago greatly needs a linebacker. While his performance in the Senior Bowl increased his draft capital, he is still projected to be a sixth round draft pick. With the Bears currently sitting on two fifth round picks and a seventh round pick, one of these could potentially be used for Miller.
Anthony Johnson played in college for five years. He spent the first three with Louisville, although he was not a starter. Transferring to Virginia for his final two years was a smart move for Johnson; it allowed him to be a starter and give him a chance at getting drafted. He finished his college career with a total of 138 total tackles and nine of them for loss. In addition, he had a total of seven career interceptions with five of them coming during his time in Virginia. In his final year, Johnson also defended 12 passes which was tied for sixteenth in college football. His draft stock has wavered as of late, but he is still projected to get drafted in the sixth round of the draft. Chicago needs someone who can cover receivers and potentially cause some turnovers. This seems to mirror Nic Jones from Ball State who was in the Shrine Bowl who also had two interceptions and defended 12 passes this season. So, Johnson and Jones can both serve to benefit the Bears’ secondary since that is not an area where they have a lot of depth.
The benefit from Evan Hull is the combination of his rushing and pass-catching ability. In his four-year career at Northwestern, he had a total of 2,417 rushing yards with nearly 2,000 of those yards coming in the past two seasons. He averaged five yards per carry and had a total of 18 rushing touchdowns, 12 of them in the past two seasons. The past two seasons is when he became a starter for Northwestern and he performed when he was in that position. However, this past season is when he became more involved in the passing game. In his last season, he had 55 receptions for 546 yards; both of those marks are higher than any receiver on the Bears this past season (tight end Cole Kmet only had 50 receptions for 544 receiving yards). His dual threat ability is something that is needed for the Bears going into next season, whether running back David Montgomery stays with Chicago or not. They only have two primary running backs so they probably need a third running back anyway. His draft stock went up following the Senior Bowl, but he is still not projected to get drafted until the fourth round. Right now, the Bears have two fourth round picks - their fourth rounder, and the fourth round pick from the Philadelphia Eagles from the Robert Quinn trade during the season. Hull is definitely someone that they could acquire with one of those picks.Aubrey Miller Jr, Linebacker - Jackson State
Anthony Johnson, Defensive Back - Virginia
Evan Hull, Running Back - Northwestern
