www.BearGear.info

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – When three of the four linebackers the Bears were targeting in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft were taken off the board by other teams, Jerry Angelo didn’t panic.

Rather than sacrificing other draft picks to trade up to select Nick Barnett, Victor Hobson or Eddie Moore, the Bears general manager chose Arizona’s Lance Briggs.

“We liked them all,” Angelo said. “We just said we’ll take the guy that falls to us. Lance Briggs was the man that fell to us and it turned out to be a pretty good pick for us.”

Briggs has since become just the fourth linebacker in Bears history to be selected to five straight Pro Bowls, joining Hall of Famers Bill George, Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary.

The Bears found themselves in a similar position in the third round of this year’s draft, with three of the four defensive backs they were targeting at No. 75 already taken by other clubs.

Cornerbacks were chosen with the first three picks in the third round—South Florida’s Jerome Murphy by the Rams at No. 65, Iowa’s Amari Spievey by the Lions at No. 66 and Vanderbilt’s Myron Lewis by the Buccaneers at No. 67. 

The Packers then traded up to take Georgia Tech safety Morgan Burnett at No. 71, which left Florida safety Major Wright as the obvious choice for the Bears.

“We had an opportunity. We could have moved up a little bit,” Angelo told reporters. “[But] who is to say who is the best one? I know there has to be a pecking order. We’ll find out in two or three years how it all shakes out, but they are all good football players.

“To say who is going to be the best at the end of the day, time will tell. I am not going to sit here and say it, and certainly nobody in this room can say it either. We just felt like, ‘Why give something up when you can’t say for sure?’ And those picks have value to us.”

In nine drafts with the Bears, Angelo has traded down nine times and moved up only once—in 2003 he dealt two sixth-round picks and a seventh-round selection to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for a fifth-round choice that was used to take Missouri wide receiver Justin Gage.

Seven current players were selected by the Bears with picks acquired after Angelo traded down: defensive back Danieal Manning in 2006; running back Garrett Wolfe and safety Kevin Payne in 2007; safety Craig Steltz and tight end Kellen Davis in 2008; and defensive linemen Jarron Gilbert and Henry Melton in 2009.