Bears Blitz

Published by Josh Herman on August 25, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

When it comes to drafts, Chicago Bears GM Jerry Angelo has been known as a “risk taker,” to say the least.

He’s been known to take injury-prone or troublesome players that happen to slip picks, and most of the time Mel Kiper notes the guy as a steal.

The problem with taking risks in the draft is you waste “free” guys, meaning you have a chance at a giant pool of talent that allows you to pick basically whomever you’d like.

But instead of taking guys with potential, or guys with good upside, Angelo tries taking the guys with the most talent that have something outside of football that hurts them, whether personally or socially.

Now at this time many of you are probably pointing out the other side of the Angelo debate and look at guys like 2002 fourth-round pick Alex Brown, 2003 third-round pick Lance Briggs, or 2004 fourth-round pick Nathan Vasher.

After all, these guys were all integral pieces of the 2006-07 defense that carried the Bears to Super Bowl XLI.

However, as these guys still remain on the defense, the talent that Angelo has tried to surround them with on both sides of the ball has been inconsistent at best and plain terrible at worst.

And I’m not talking about the Tommie Harris’s or the Peanut Tillman’s of the world.

Instead I’m talking about Angelo draft picks such as former first-rounders, Marc Colombo (now successful as a Cowboy), Michael Haynes (probably would’ve been more successful as a cowboy), Rex Grossman (now a third-stringer for the lowly Texans), and Cedric Benson (now has his mugshot in Texas’s books).

How about second-rounders Tank Johnson (good player, poor gun hider), and Mark Bradley (spokesman for Angelo’s “potential” guys)?

Dare I go to round three? Terrence Metcalf (now a backup on the Lions), and the newest member to the “bust category,” Dusty Dvoracek.

It was recently released that Dvoracek will be lost for the season after tearing his ACL, although reports have it that DD may have only sprained his MCL.

Either way, the injury gets added to the list of a guy who has spent more time on injured reserve than on the Bears roster…literally.

With the off-season departure of safety Mike Brown, who saw injury pile-ups after two years of Pro-Bowl worthy play, the upside that Dvoracek encouraged fans.

After seeing time as a backup defensive tackle in two preseason games in 2006, he hurt his foot and was placed on IR before September.

In 2007, he made it out of the preseason, getting his first start on Sept. 9 against the San Diego Chargers. On Sept. 10 he was placed on IR with a knee injury.

The 2008 season showed promise for DD as he started the first 12 games for the Bears. In fact, his 7.5 stuffs ranked fourth in the NFL, and his 29 tackles led the Bears defensive line at the time.

However, an arm injury forced DD to return to the IR for the last four games of the season.

Now, after just two preseason games, it appears the worst has happened yet again for such a promising young talent.

Was it just a coincidence, or was it yet another Angelo risk that yielded no reward?