| 20 March 2010
There are arguments that can be made that you don't need to draft four of five positions on the offensive line until round three or later because so often good solid long term NFL prospects come out of those rounds. You don't need to find an All-Pro offensive lineman, you don't need three Pro Bowlers on the offensive line to win games, it's a nice luxury but mostly teams need efficiency. They need fundamentally sound prospects who do their job every day, lead by example, play tough and nasty and don't quit.
Perhaps no prospect exemplifies these qualities more than Utah's Zane Beadles, a four year starter at LT. Beadles isn't the most athletically gifted prospect, he doesn't pass the LT eye ball test and maybe doesn't have all the ideal measurements for the position.
However one thing you can expect from a player like Beadles is he won't quit and he works hard on the field. Beadles has been a solid pass protector for the Utes and that may earn him a shot to play the LT spot in the NFL. If not he could make a superb guard at the next level provided he better learns to run block.
NFL level run blocking is something Beadles didn't do a lot of in Salt Lake City, he wasn't asked to do it. They run a nifty little spread offense where often times he was coming out of a two point stance. However when he was asked to run block he performed his duties adequately but always gave a good effort and played through the whistle. He needs to work better on driving the defender off of the ball, which may mean he is not a first year impact O-Lineman like most Bears fans would prefer to see out of any lineman they draft either in the third or fourth round.
But no mistake about it, Beadles is precisely the type of prospect who can go on and have a long and solid career in the NFL. He can develop his game a bit and then be a starter on the offensive line for the next decade.
Obviously I can't make the same prediction about every mid round prospect that the Bears are targeting, but Beadles shows the ability to be a solid blocker in the NFL. He has shown on more than one occasion that he can handle speed rushers, and can kick out and block to the outside as an LT.
That type of skill may translate into Beadles being a solid guard in the NFL, a position he is not unfamiliar with having been the starting LG at Utah during his freshman year. The weakness in his game is that he's never been asked to pull or get out and block in space. Run blocking in space is something that Frank Omiyale struggled with during his first year as a LG so it's not as if Bears fans aren't unfamiliar with that lack of game.
He's a good pass blocker but the lack of true run blocking ability is a problem. He's not going to lock on and over power a defender, won't be a road grater.
However his work man like approach, willingness to be coached means he has solid potential in the pro ranks.
At the Utah Pro Day the Bears were one of the teams to actively seek out Beadles and talk with him after his work out. This likely means the Bears liked what they saw of Beadles on film and may be considering him in the area of the third or fourth round of the upcoming draft.
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