There’s too much emphasis put on first-round draft picks in the NFL, too much hope sunk into them, too many watts of spotlight wasted on them, too much money thrown their way.
There are too many trees that have given their lives so draft publications can gush about a promising offensive lineman who has a “bubble butt,” football being the only place besides a crowded bus where this is considered an asset. The NFL draft long ago turned into an Event, and a whole industry of prognosticators, experts and Mel Kiper Jr. bouffant hairdos has grown around it.
While the Bears were singing the praises of Boston College tackle Marc Colombo, their first-round pick Saturday, there was ominous background music coming from somewhere more important–you know, from the same Bears’ roster that made the playoffs last season.
Let’s not lose sight of the strength of this team. It’s the linebackers, stupid, though sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the Bears understand.
They were smart enough to match the offer Kansas City extended Warrick Holdman, though there are no guarantees Holdman will be here after next season. And there is pessimism as to whether Rosevelt Colvin will be back after next season too.
Brian Urlacher would still be a wonderful player without his two buddies, but he’s better with them. Much of what happened last season, when the Bears went 13-3, happened because of the Three Linebackers. Urlacher is the heart, Holdman the soul and Colvin the hard nose.
If the Bears and general manager Jerry Angelo had been more proactive, they wouldn’t be where they are today, searching for their corrective eyewear every time the subject of the future arises. If they had offered Holdman the same contract extension they gave cornerback Jerry Azumah last year–four years, $12.5 million–Holdman would be locked up instead of up in the air.
Instead, if the Bears want to keep Holdman after 2002, they’ll have to pay him a $3 million roster bonus the next season. It’s a big hit.
Football people talk a lot about building chemistry, but they don’t always mean what they say. This not only is the best group of young linebackers in the league, it’s a group of players who seem more concerned with what happens on the scoreboard than the stat sheets. How often do you see that in professional sports these days?
But if you’re really interested in individual numbers, there is this: Urlacher is 23, Colvin 24 and Holdman 26.
“I feel real good that we’ll be in a competitive situation to keep our linebacker corps intact,” Angelo said. “We felt we could obviously take on [Holdman’s] contract, and we felt in the future we could absorb it. There might be some things down the road we might opt to do in negotiations, but as I say we’re fine with where we’re at from a cap standpoint.”
Colvin, who signed a one-year, $1.2 million tender offer, is one of those guys who seems to come up with big plays at the right moments. Anyone who saw Colvin play at Purdue saw this, and anyone who saw him play the last couple of years knows this. If the Bears think he’s dispensable, they’re wrong.
“We hope Rosey has a great year next year and puts us in a tough position financially,” Angelo said. “That’s fine with me.”
We’ll see.
The Bears have a rich history of linebackers, and though nobody is comparing this group to Mike Singletary, Wilber Marshall and Otis Wilson just yet, something special might happen here if Urlacher et al.can stay together more than a year or two.
The tendency in the NFL is to think everybody is replaceable. But the Baltimore Ravens tried to change on the fly after winning the Super Bowl in the 2000 season and couldn’t sustain their momentum.
Speaking of momentum, it was hard to believe the Bears would ever get to the 29th pick Saturday, but after five hours of Chris Berman’s mouth wrapped around two minutes of substance, they chose Colombo, a 6-foot-7-inch, 313-pound wall of nastiness.
He’ll be expected to fill the shoes of Blake Brockermeyer, probably sooner rather than later. Brockermeyer was a salary-cap casualty, and he’s the cautionary tale for Holdman and Colvin. But, hey, this day was about first-round picks, not about that messy stuff.
Anyway, Colvin and Holdman were fourth-round picks. Who cares?
