Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery has been diligently preparing for his first 2012 NFL Draft, and he is armed with five selections in the top 150 picks, but the Bears have plenty of needs on the offensive line and depth issues at wide receiver and along the defensive secondary. Prospects like Illinios DE Whitney Mercilus and Alabama CB Dre Kirkpatrick may tempt Emery, yet Peter King of Sports Illustrated thinks the Bears should select Stanford OT Jonathan Martin, but that they will take Baylor WR Kendall Wright with the No. 19 overall pick:
Peter King's Full 2012 NFL Mock Draft On Sports Illustrated
WILL PICK - Kendall Wright, WR, Baylor
SHOULD PICK - Jonathan Martin, T, Stanford
I'd be stunned if Chicago doesn't fortify its perpetually patchwork offensive line, but I've been stunned before. Coach Lovie Smith had dinner with Wright at Baylor's pro day in March, and I hear he was impressed-enough so to select Wright to go with Brandon Marshall, creating a suddenly formidable wideout corps for quarterback Jay Cutler.
SB Nation's NFL Draft site, Mocking the Draft, has Kendall Wright listed at the No. 3 WR prospect (click here for scouting report), while Martin is the second-best OT behind USC's Matt Kalil (click here for scouting report). In King's mock, Mercilus comes off the board at No. 20 to the Tennessee Titans and Kirkpatrick lands with the Cincinnati Bengals with the No. 21 pick.
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