Scouting The 2014 NFL Draft: Chicago Bears Selection Ego Ferguson

Now that the draft is over, I feel pretty good about things. I am basing this off of approximately 30 second of highlight videos, and that their final pick has a very famous pedigree.

I'm just going to assume that Jay Leno's real first name is Charles, and the Bears just drafted the Prince of Late Night.
— Hott Joe (@HottJoe) May 10, 2014

That's enough to go off of, right? Well, I'm unemployed, and that means that I don't need to settle when it comes to consuming sports, so I'm going to go through every draft pick that the Bears made to see what kind of talent they were able to bring in through the draft. So far, I have finished the following reports:

Round One - Kyle Fuller - CB - Virginia Tech

Now it is time to take a look at Bears second round pick, Ego Ferguson by checking out his game against Mississippi State.

So the first thing that you have to know about Ego Ferguson is that he was not drafted to make plays. That sounds weird, but his job is much more to prevent the offense from making plays. He's 325 pounds, so he isn't going to be knifing through the line as the 3-technique. His job is much more to take up blockers and hold his ground. So expecting some mind-blowing highlights will probably leave you disappointed in Ferguson's performance.

He can get moving and penetrate if a team tries to stop him with a single blocker.

He doesn't make the play, but he does blow by the left guard who is unable to close the distance as the center blocks to his right. This may have been a miscommunication by the offensive line, but it shows that the big man can move, even if the final result is not ideal on the play.

The one thing to like is that he keeps his feet moving when he is engaged with a blocker. When he gets his hands underneath the lineman, he is able to manipulate him well enough. He's not quite Timmy Jernigan where he never really gives up ground, but as long as he stays low, he is tough to move without multiple blockers.

This is what happens when Ferguson is unable to do his job.

On this play, the lineman turns Ferguson's shoulders, and the running back has a huge lane to go through for a first down.

This is what it looks like when Ferguson is able to do his job.

He doesn't make the play. The quarterback even gains a few yards on the draw, but he occupies two blockers long enough where the guard can't peel off and take out the linebacker before the quarterback has no place to go.

I like the idea of Ego Ferguson more than what I actually saw from him in this game. The Bears run defense was awful last year. It was so bad that I truly don't understand why teams passed against them. So a person like Ego Ferguson was a necessary addition. But man, just three picks before the Bears took Ferguson, the Ravens got Timmy Jernigan, and that dude is a beast. After looking at the Bears first two picks, I am left thinking about what could have been. Had the Bears lost one more game, they end up with Aaron Donald and Timmy Jernigan in the middle of their line. That would have had me excited. Instead, I'm trying to give myself a reason for optimism, because from what I have seen Fuller and Ferguson are just fine. Still, Emery has made enough good decisions in his tenure to earn the benefit of the doubt. I just hope I'm not left dreaming of what might have been.