Bears select South Carolina DT Zacch Pickens with 64th pick in 2023 NFL Draft
Bears select Zacch Pickens with 64th pick in 2023 NFL Draft originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
With the 64th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles selected South Carolina defensive tackle Zacch Pickens.
"He looks the part, 6-foot-3 and 291 pounds," ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. "What they want to do is get into the backfield, this is a defensive line that needed some help and Pickens has a great opportunity here."
Kiper added: "Smart kid, team leader. Talk about displaying the explosiveness to get into the backfield and do some damage, he did it. Athletic enough to chase down ball carriers and lateral pursuit and get after it.
"The pass rush potential is definitely there. This past year he had 2.5 sacks."
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Pickens promised improvement to the Chicago media.
"I'm going to be 10 times better in the NFL than I was in college," Pickens said.
With their first pick in the second round, the Bears selected another defensive lineman, Florida's Gervon Dexter.
In the first round the Bears traded down from No. 9 to No. 10. They used the 10th overall pick to select Tennessee offensive tackle Darnell Wright. Wright figures to be an immediate starter on the right side of the offensive line, protecting Justin Fields.
In the second round, after the Bears drafted Dexter, Poles traded up to No. 56 pick to take Miami cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. Stevenson is the third cornerback taken in the second round in the past four drafts for the Bears.
The Bears drafted cornerback Kyler Gordon with their second-round pick in 2022, No. 39 overall. It was also the Bears' first pick of the 2022 NFL Draft and Poles' first pick as the general manager of the Bears. And in 2020, then general manager Ryan Pace drafted Jaylon Johnson in the second round with the 50th overall pick.
