Round five of the 2011 NFL Draft is just about in the books. The Chicago Bears, who traded away their fourth round selection in order to move up in round two, have made an interesting move with their first pick on day three. The Bears drafted Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle with 160th overall pick near the end of Round 5. I’m not sure I quite understand the rationale with the pick.
Obviously the Bears have their starting quarterback in place with Jay Cutler. While veteran reserve Todd Collins should definitely not be a part of the team’s plans for much, if any, longer, rookie third stringer Caleb Hanie flashed some promise in the Bears’ NFC Championship Game loss to the Green Bay Packers. Chicago had talked about possibly adding a developmental project at quarterback at some point in this year’s draft, it’s hard to understand why Chicago would use a fifth rounder on a guy that showed very little during his pre-draft workouts. Undrafted free agent rookies with similar promise are available each year, and though there’s teams around the league with bigger holes on their roster, Chicago is not exactly so stacked on both sides of the ball where they can take a luxury pick like that in round five. Then again, perhaps Jerry Angelo and the Bears’ coaching staff sees something in Enderle that the rest of us don’t.
For more fan reaction to the Bears’ fifth round pick, head on over to Windy City Gridiron for more commentary and discussion.