I am going to respectfully disagree. Rarely do first year receivers amount to anything statistically for their teams.
Of all the guys who were picked last year, how many saw significant playing time and stats?
Second Round
Donnie Avery (Rams) 15 Games Rec: 53 Yds: 674 TD: 3(1)
Devin Thomas* (Skins) 16 Games Rec: 15 Yds: 120 TD: 0(1)
Jordy Nelson (Packers) 16 Games Rec: 33 Yds: 366 TD: 2
James Hardy* (Bills) 14 Games Rec: 9 Yds: 87 TD: 2
Eddie Royal (Broncos) 15 Games Rec: 91 Yds: 980 Td: 5 (2 fumbles, 1 lost)
Jerome Simpson (Bengals) 6 Games Rec: 1 Yds: 2
DeSean Jackson* (Eagles) 16 Games Rec: 62 Yds: 912 Td: 2(1) (4 fumbles 2 lost)
Malcolm Kelly* (Skins) 5 Games Rec: 3 Yds: 18
Limas Sweed* (Steelers) 11 Games Rec: 6 Yds: 64 (2 fumbles 1 lost)
Dexter Jackson (Bucs) 7 Games Rec: 0 Yds: 0, TD; 0 (1 Fumble)
3rd Round
Earl Bennet (Bears) 10 Games Rec: 0 Yds: 0 TD: 0
Early Doucet (Cards) 10 Games Rec: 0 Yds: 0 TD: 0
Harry Douglas (Falcons) 16 Games Rec: 23 Yds: 320 TD:1 (1) (1 fumble 1 lost)
Mario Manningham (NY Giants) 7 Games RecL 4 Yds: 26 TD: 0
Andre Caldwell (Bengal) 7 Games Rec: 11 Yds: 78 TD: 0
* Many teams had these players ranked with 1st Round Grades before the draft
Outside of the 3rd round not a single WR had over 300 Yards in receiving.
Only 3 of the WRs in last year's draft class had 300 or more yards (4 actually if you count Harry Douglas with the Falcons.) Outside of the 3rd Round hardly any of the picks saw playing time, and only a handful had between 100 and 300 yards receiving.
I mean look at that closely:
Only 3 out of 10 players selected at the position in the Second round contributed in a meaningful way to their teams (meaningful meaning 500 or more yards), you can add two more if you lower the standard to 300 Yards and include the 4th Round and only 1 other WR in the 3rd Round saw enough passes thrown their way to amount any statistics.
(cut out redskin receiver references from my post on their board).
Here's the thing the best WRs in this draft will be 1st Rounders, and the bears, have no ammo to move up now probably. They have a 2nd and nothing till the 4th. Are they really going to spend a 2nd on a WR
Michael Crabtree
Jeremy Macklain
Percy Harvin (Could fall rumor was on roids or pot at combine)
Kenny Britt
Darious Heyword-Bey
Hakeem Nicks
after that the second round will be very much hit and miss on WRs, bank on it.
(Side note, Jordy nelson, looks like he will be good long term for the packers, and would have been more productive if not for a stacked WR position already in Green Bay.)
But my point is after the first couple of rounds the draft is so much more of a crap shoot, and the bears need to also draft some O-line help badly to protect their investment in Cutler too.
Also look at the rookie seasons from some of the best WRs in the league:
I'll just do some of the best WR's now rookie seasons.
Terrell Owens: 16 games, 35 rec, 520 yds, 4 TDs
Randy Moss: 16 games, 69 rec, 1313 yds, 17 TDs
Steve Smith: 15 games, 10 rec, 154 yds, 0 TDs
Chad Ochocinco: 12 games, 28 rec, 329 yds, 1 TD
Andre Johnson: 16 games, 66 rec, 976 yds, 4 TDs
Reggie Wayne: 13 games, 27 rec, 345 yds, 0 TDs
TJ Houshmandzadeh: 12 games, 21 rec, 228 yds, 0 TDs
Larry Fitzgerald: 16 games, 58 rec, 780 yds, 8 TDs
Anquan Boldin: 16 games, 101 rec, 1377 yds, 8 TDs
Calvin Johnson: 15 games, 48 rec, 756 yds, 4 TDs
So as you can tell, besides Moss, Boldin, AJ, and Fitz, most rookie WRs are pretty average right out of the gate. So its not like Thomas and Kelly have 0 chance to succeed because they didn't have 1,000 yard seasons their rookie years. There is still hope!
Not all of them were first rounders, I realize, but you can see that being a significant contribution is not a forgone conclusion.
Still not convinced?
lets look at the Steve Smith 2001 Draft, because there were a ton of WR's taken in the top three rounds. They produced a wide variety of stats their rookie years.
I think the evidence speaks volumes:
1(8) -- David Terrell -- 34, 415, 4TD
1(9) -- Koren Robinson -- 39, 536, 1TD
1(15) -- Rod Gardner -- 46, 741, 4TD
1(16) -- Santana Moss -- 2, 40, 0TD
1(25) -- Freddie Mitchell -- 21, 283, 1TD
1(30) -- Reggie Wayne -- 27, 345, 0TD
2(33) -- Quincy Morgan -- 30, 432, 2TD
2(41) -- Robert Ferguson -- 0, 0, 0TD
2(52) -- Chris Chambers -- 48, 883, 7TD
3(74) -- Steve Smith -- 10, 154, 0TD
3(77) -- Marvin Minnis -- 33, 511, 1TD
So, if NFL message board posters going in to the 2002 season would have been talking about how Rod Gardner and Chris Chambers are awesome and have great futures ahead of them. Marvin Minnis, David Terrell, Koren Robinson and and Quincy Morgan all look like solid contributors for many years.
Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne and Steve Smith?
Ha, they combined for exactly ZERO touchdowns. Obvious busts. Keep an eye on Freddie Mitchell though as he learns that Andy Reid offense.
(Thanks to Nightbird of ExtremeSkins for compiling that data already.)
My point is valid, even if they DO draft a WR, there is no guarantee he will have the numbers, and judging by this years draft, I do not believe that the WR position is any deeper than last years, in fact I'd say the top few are all pretty good, and then there is a major drop off.
Now you made the opinion that the bears have a couple of good WR already, I disagree with this point. The bears had better look for a WR in Free Agency, cause here's what they have for Cutler to throw to:
Who is now on their active roster?
Devin Armoashodu 3 Years 6 Games in 07 (Colts) 7/96 Yards
Earl Bennet 1 Year 10 games Zilch for stats
John Broussard Sat out last year 8 Games in 07 4/126 Yards 1 TD (Jax)
Rudy Burgess (1 year never saw playing time)
Rashied Davis 4 Years 60 games, 74/913 and 4 TD (3 fumbles 1 lost)
Devin Hester 3 years (2 as a WR) 31 games as a WR, 71/964 Yards and 5 TD (20 fumbles 5 lost)
Brandon Rideau 4 Years No meaningful stats
At TE they have:
Desmond Clark 10 Year Veteran 303/3434 Yards 25 TD (8 Fumbles 5 lost)
Kellen Davis 1 Year no stats
Greg Olson 2 years, 30 Games, 93/965 Yards 7 TD (2 Fumbles 2 LosT)
Fontel Mines (07 pick, never saw the field)
That leaves their Running backs of Kevin Jones, Matt Forte, and the other Adrian Peterson to catch balls.
The bears, need to Draft a quality WR frankly :/, but outside of the first round, there won't be many sure fire good ones available I foresee.
Cutler got dealt to a team with Less WR talent than the Skins, Bengals, and 49ers Combined LOL
And to think, Brandon Lloyd looked like a toP WR with them last year. No wonder, they had noone else after Hester.
And lloyd, got cut, so this offseason so what does that tell you?
They need to look at the available free agents, and try to pick up one there, question is who.