The Bears’ 2011 NFL Draft was an utter disaster, plain and simple.  Here is a look at what the Bears’ rookie draft class did in 2011:

23-year old OT Gabe Carimi came to the Bears in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.  He filled a huge need for the Bears until his season ended very early due to knee surgery.  Carimi played in 2 games (both starts) for the Bears last year.  He will likely be a fixture at RT for the Bears down the road.

23-year old DT Stephen Paea was a second round pick by the Bears last year.  He played in 11 games for the Bears last year and he had 14 tackles and 2 sacks.  He might get more P.T. starting in 2o12.

22-year old safety Chris Conte came to the Bears in the 3rd round last April.  He played in 14 games for the Bears last year and he had 30 tackles, 1 interception, 1 tackle for a loss and 2 passes defensed.  Conte played pretty decent late in the year for the Bears.

23-year old QB Nathan Enderle was picked in the 5th round by the Bears last April.  He didn’t get into any games for the Bears last year and that really says something about him due to the play of Caleb Hanie and Josh McCown.

23-year old LB James T. Thomas was picked in the sixth round last April.  He didn’t get  into any games as he spent his rookie season on the Injured Reserve List due to a back injury.

GRADE FOR THE 2011 SEASON:  D-

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  C

The Chicago Bears tried to make good use of the few picks they had in the draft last April.  OT Gabe Carimi was an excellent pick for the Bears as he will likely start from Day #1 for the Bears.  He should be able to help ensure that QB Jay Cutler won’t look like a pinata once again this year.  The Bears traded up to pick DT Stephen Paea to fill a need on the interior of the D-Line.  He should get a lot of P.T. as a rookie.  Safety Chris Conte was probably a reach pick for the Bears as many draft “experts” had him getting picked in the 5th or 6th round.  QB Nathan Enderle came to the Bears in the 5th round and that was no doubt at the urging of offensive co-ordinator Mike Martz.

PROJECTED GRADE:  C+

The Bears took outside linebacker J.T. Thomas out of West Virginia with the 195th overall pick (6th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Thomas is 6’1″, 241 pounds and he runs a 4.68 40.  Thomas is a good athlete but he’s a much better chaser than dealing with a play coming right at him.  He had 73 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, he broke up 4 passes and he forced 2 fumbles last year.  He played in 49 games (39 starts) in his four years with the Mountaineers and he had 233 tackles, 27 tackles for a loss, 6 sacks, he broke up 12 passes, forced 4 fumbles and he had 2 interceptions.  Thomas will probably have to make his money in the NFL on special teams as he has a lot of weaknesses as a defender.

UPDATE:  (9/4/2011) – The Bears have placed J.T. Thomas on the Injured Reserve List ending his rookie season due to a back injury.

The Chicago Bears took 23-year old QB Nathan Enderle out of Idaho with the 160th overall pick (5th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Enderle is a big guy at 6’4″, 242 pounds and he runs a 4.95 40.  Enderle is a classic dropback passer and he has a very strong arm.  The Bears wanted a QB to develop to eventually be Jay Cutler’s top backup and Enderle could wind up being that guy as long as he responds well to the coaching he’s going to get.  Enderle played in 13 games (all starts) for Idaho last year and he completed 271 of 478 passes (56.7%) for 3,314 yards with 22 TD passes and 16 INTs.  Enderle played in 46 games (all starts) in his four years with the Vandals and he completed 779 of 1,427 passes (54.6%) for 10,084 yards with 74 TD passes and 60 INTs.  I like this pick for the Bears.

The Chicago Bears picked safety Chris Conte out of California with the 93rd overall pick (3rd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Conte is 6’2″, 197 pounds and he runs a 4.59 40.  Conte plays hard but he’s kind of soft.  He played in 12 games (all starts) last year for California and he had 72 tackles, broke up 3 passes, had 1 interception, 2 tackles for a loss and 1 forced fumble.  He played in 50 games (17 starts) in his four years with the Bears and he had 157 tackles, broke up 11 passes, had 2 interceptions, 4 tackles for a loss and he forced 1 fumble.  This was a huge reach for the Bears as most draft experts had Conte going undrafted.

The Chicago Bears took 23-year old DT Stephen Paea out of Oregon State with the 53rd overall pick (2nd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Paea is a big guy at 6’1″, 306 pounds and he’s as strong as a bull.  Paea played in 11 games (all starts) for Oregon State last year and he had 42 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, 6 sacks, batted down 2 balls and he forced 4 fumbles.  Paea played in 37 games (36 starts) for the Beavers in his three years with them and he had 126 tackles, 29.5 tackles for a loss, 14 sacks, batted down 3 balls and he forced 9 fumbles.  The Bears might have a steal in Paea if they can keep him focused and motivated, as he’s a playmaker whenever he wants to be.

The Chicago Bears picked 23-year old OT Gabe Carimi out of Wisconsin with the 29th overall pick (1st round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Carimi is a huge guy at 6’7″, 315 pounds.  He always seemed to step up against the best competition that Wisconsin faced.  He will now have to do that week in and weeks out as their are no marshmellows on an NFL schedule.  Carimi played in 13 games (all starts) for Wisconsin last year.  He played in 49 games (all starts) in his four years at Wisconsin as he took over at LT when Joe Thomas was picked by the Browns.  Carimi will likely be the Bears’ starting left tackle from Day #1 and that has to make QB Jay Cutler happy.

The offensive line and WR are going to be the two areas that the Bulls try to improve on this weekend.  Here is who I saw the Bears getting in my mock draft:

1st round (#29 overall) – Derek Sherrod, OT, Mississippi State

2nd round (#62 overall) – Will Rackley, OG, Lehigh

3rd round (#93 overall) – Greg Little, WR, North Carolina

4th round (#127 overall) – Charles Clay, FB, Tulsa

5th round (#160 overall) – Ryan Whalen, WR, Stanford

6th round (#195 overall) – Brandon Bair, DT, Oregon

This would be an outstanding haul for the Bears as Sherrod and Rackley would help them shore up the offensive line so that QB Jay Cutler doesn’t look like a pinata again in 2011.  Little and Whalen would give up a couple of more weapons to pass to.

The Bears were still paying for Jay Cutler so they only had 5 picks in last April’s Draft.  Here’s a look at how well the players handled their first taste of the NFL:

Major Wright:  The Bears used their first draft pick (3rd round, #75 overall) on safety Major Wright out of Florida.  He played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Bears last season and he had 24 tackles.  He showed glimpses of being able to start down the road for the Bears but it’s going to take some time to coach him up.

Corey Wootton:  The Bears took a chance on DE Corey Wootten in the 4th round (#109 overall) out of Northwestern.  He was injured coming into the draft so the Bears got a deal by waiting on him.  He played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Bears last season and he had 5 tackles and 1 sack.  Wootten has a nice upside so he could be off nicely for the Bears down the road.

Joshua Moore:  The Bears selected 22-year old cornerback Joshua Moore in with the 141st overall pick (5th round) of the NFL Draft.  The rookie from Kansas State didn’t show too much as a rookie as he played in 3 games (0 starts) in which he made 1 whole tackle.  Moore is going to have to show something next season if he wants to continue getting paid to play football. 

Dan LeFevour:  23-year old QB Dan LeFevour was the 181st overall pick (6th round) out of Central Michigan.  He didn’t make it on the roster and the Bengals picked him up on waivers.  He is their #3 QB right now but he didn’t get on the field as a rookie.

J’Marcus Webb:  22-year old, 6’8″, 335 pound J’Marcus Webb out of West Texas A&M was the Bears’ last (and best) pick in the 2010 Draft.  They found him in the 7th round with the 218th overall pick in the Draft.  Webb played in 14 games (12 starts) for the Bears last season.  No reason to think that he won’t be starting for the Bears along the O-Line for a long time if he keeps improving.

GRADE FOR 2010:  C-

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B-

The Bears have lost rookie safety Major Wright for the rest of the pre-season.  He will have surgery today to repair a fractured left index finger.  Wright had 7 tackles in the pre-season opener over the weekend.  This will set back Wright a bit as the Bears had big plans for him.  Hopefully, he’ll be ready for the start of the 2010 regular season as the Bears planned on giving him quite a bit of P.T.