Bears select Ohio State's Paris Johnson Jr in Peter King's latest mock draft
Peter King has Bears drafting an offensive tackle originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Chicago Bears' primary team needs lie in the trenches on both sides of the ball, an offensive tackle to protect Justin Fields or someone who can disrupt opponent's pass game.
But lately, more mock drafts have had the Bears going offense than defense.
And that includes Peter King's latest for Pro Football Talk. King has the Bears taking Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. in the 2023 NFL Draft.
"If you’re GM Ryan Poles, you’ve solved a few problems already with offseason acquisitions at receiver (D.J. Moore) and linebacker (T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds) and guard (Nate Davis)," King wrote. "This is the next one—the rock at tackle Poles hopes Johnson can be. Johnson’s stock rose this offseason and he should be immediate help for a line that allowed an unacceptable 58 sacks last year."
Mock drafts have been split between Johnson, Northwestern's Peter Skoronski and Georgia's Broderick Jones. Even Tennessee's right tackle Darnell Wright had a week where he was the sexy pick to mock for the Bears.
King has Johnson as the first tackle off the board, giving the Bears' their pick of the bunch. There is presumably familiarity for Fields with his former teammate.
ESPN's Mel Kiper had the Bears taking Johnson in a late-March mock draft.
The Bears were on Johnson's shortlist of preferred teams, after his no income tax preferences were ruled out because they don't need an offensive tackle.
And others inside the league think the Bears are leaning toward Johnson.
“Knowing the scouting tree that Poles is coming from, I’d think it’ll be Paris,” an AFC exec told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. “It’s the size, the length, just having a pass-blocking left tackle, it matches up.”
