The Bears don't have a third-round pick in the 2013 draft, but general manager Phil Emery doesn't mind. He'd give it up again if given the chance.
"I would trade those two third-rounders for Brandon Marshall again," Emery said Wednesday at the Walter Payton Center. "I would go back and do that deal."
And he's up for more wheeling and dealing if another team is up for it.
With left tackle Jermon Bushrod and tight end Martellus Bennett now part of the Bears after busy first day of free agency, Emery said he's open to listening to teams about trades that would deliver the Bears more picks in return.
Emery said adding Bushrod and Bennett will "open up the draft" for the Bears to "add to [their] weapons."
"[Signing them is] going to give us so much flexibility," Emery said. "To put it bluntly, we're open for business. If teams want to approach us about trading back, we're all ears. We're not going to pass up on a really good player at 20 that we feel will have an immediate impact on winning right now.
"But certainly the draft has strengths and if we have the opportunity to pull back so that we can collect picks, we're very open to that."
Emery said it would be "draft day decision,"
"You want trade back into a draft that has positional strength where you may need to fill a hole," Emery said. "So that you know that that player is available at various spots, if can trade back and get that player because you know don't have to take that player with that exact pick to fulfill that need or that quality of player."
The most important thing is the Bears now have flexibility, especially with Bushrod and Bennett on board, Emery said. Offensive tackle and tight end were positions in needs of upgrades.
"We don't have to stay at 20 and say, 'Well, we've got to have a tackle' or 'We have to have a tight end,' " Emery said. "We can't come out of that pick. So yes, it's extremely important to have that flexibility."
The Bears do not lack players at specific positions. That was Jerry Angelo's way of thinking (hence 7 undrafted rookie free agents on one roster). They lack playmakers. Speed to take the top off the defense, or to close the gap on a running back and blow the play up the the backfield. Pancake blocks. Breakaway 60 yard runs for a touchdown. Don't get cute: take a player at 20 who dominated the player on the other side of the ball in college. Fluker at right tackle, or (my favorite) Tavon Austin. Take a player in the 2nd who did the same (Barret Jones, anyone?) Take a flyer on Marcus Lattimore of SC in a later round, see if his knee is ready this year, because that guy could make a birthday cake out of dog food in college. Take a player who looks like Jane but plays like Tarzan, especially if he's a quarterback. Cincy did that, as did Seattle, and both have had nice returns. Mike Glennon looks like Opie just coming off the Atkins, but something about him (like, well, game tape) tells me the kid can sling the rock. Just saying, it's easy to overthink this whole draft thing. Keep it simple. Pick players who look like they're better than the players you have now (sorry, Shea, I'm not thinking of you...)
By all rights he should be open to trading down. We had 17 free agents, and we have signed two unrestricted free agents, and tendered one exclusive rights free agent (Allen). We only have 5 picks after giving up a 7th and a 3rd in trades. By my math, we have 14 open spots on the roster, not counting the bodies we need for camp. That leaves a lot of work through the draft and beyond.
Since we no longer have to worry about a LT early (the debate over Bushrod being a top tier LT notwithstanding), and we have a TE in place, the directions we can go with the 20 pick are expanded dramatically.
-We can draft another TE like Eifert or Ertz, to give us a very impressive size group when we put Jeffery, Marshall, Bennett, and the rookie on the field at once. Not many DB groups can handle that.
-We can draft a MLB like Ogletree or Minter to replace Urlacher, who we may not be able to resign.
-We can draft an interior lineman like Cooper, Warmack, or Warford
-Defensive back - CB depth is awful
-DL - if we don't bring back Izzy, Collins, or Okoye, we have some depth issues there
Or we can trade back, get additional picks, and still do these things...just more of them.
Once again, Emery has put himself in a solid position to be flexible in the draft. Let's hope our first pick is not a part time player this time. I am becoming more and more impressed with Emery, because while he may not find the best solution, he is finding solutions that work to our primary issues, and getting us to the point where we don't have our top needs dependent on the draft.