Details Of Bears Drafting Rex Grossman May Have Trubisky Beat
Over the years, NFL draft coverage by fans and media has gone to a new level. Much of that is thanks to the expansion of the internet and the rise of social media. This is why the Chicago Bears’ drafting of Mitch Trubisky was such huge news in 2017 and continues to be huge news even three years later as details keep emerging about how all that went down. There is no draft story that can possibly top that. Unless maybe the one about Rex Grossman.
Everybody remembers the name. A 1st round pick in 2003, he was the first QB the Bears had taken that high in 21 years. So naturally high expectations came with it. The franchise had lived in quarterback purgatory for years ever since Jim McMahon left. Many would argue it goes back even further than that.
GM Jerry Angelo wanted a fresh start at the position.
He’d taken over in 2001 but didn’t have his first draft until 2002. That class wasn’t strong enough to consider anybody in the 1st round. So 2003 felt like the time he had to strike. There were three names that stood out as options. Carson Palmer, Byron Leftwich, and Grossman. Palmer wasn’t an option since he was going #1 overall. The Bears liked Leftwich but they weren’t willing to take him as high as he went (top 10).
That left one option. While plenty of people inside Halas Hall liked Grossman, it was hardly unanimous. He had a good arm and plenty of swagger. Yet there were misgivings about his size and decision-making. It would do the team a service to do some extra homework and make sure they were getting the right guy.
Then again this is the Bears we’re talking about.
Bears basically winged it with Rex Grossman
People are appalled by how Ryan Pace handled his drafting of Trubisky. At least the current GM made sure to do a ton of extra work on the North Carolina product. That includes multiple personal meetings with him leading up to the draft. Angelo and his regime? They couldn’t even be bothered with that.
According to former team scouting director Greg Gabriel via Bob McGinn of The Athletic, the team chose to avoid meeting with Grossman outside of one time.
“We didn’t send any coaches and we didn’t bring him in,” Gabriel said. “We didn’t do a frickin’ thing with him after (Gabriel’s interview). We purposely stayed away from Rex thinking that was the guy we were going to end up getting.”
Most people would cringe hearing something like that.
How can a team possibly get the full measure of a player in one interview? That makes no sense. The Bears basically felt they’d gotten all they needed. No doubt it seems they regret that decision. Former team pro personnel director Bob DePaul revealed that it became clear pretty early that Grossman was not the most dedicated quarterback he’d ever seen.
“In terms of personality, he was one of the guys,” DePaul said. “Matter of fact, he might have been too much one of the guys. Know what I’m sayin’? So, that was a problem. He liked to throw back a few, there’s no doubt about that. He wasn’t an elite training quarterback. He just wasn’t fully committed to training and eating the right things. Let’s put it this way: I wouldn’t enter him in the best body on the beach (contest).”
So in essence the Bears drafted an undersized quarterback with work ethic issues because they liked his swagger. It’s no wonder this organization can’t seem to get that position right. Taking a quarterback just for the sake of taking one is not sound reasoning at all. Had they not been so fixated on it, perhaps they would’ve considered other players who were at #22 overall.
Maybe Willis McGahee, Dallas Clark, Larry Johnson, or Nnamdi Asomugha. All future Pro Bowlers. If they’d just stayed patient a little longer, they might’ve been able to dabble in one of the best quarterback classes in history just a year later. The one that produced Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger.
Rex Grossman goes to shows again that the Bears continue to have the wrong people in charge when it comes to secure the most important position in professional sports.