One of the coolest things about each Chicago Bears draft is it features some unexpected stories involving the players themselves. A popular one fans probably remember was when Mitch Trubisky put together a dinner meeting with team brass and put his name down on the reservation as “James McMahon.” Velus Jones can credit his arrival in Chicago to Justin Fields, who watched film with GM Ryan Poles before the draft and singled out the Tennessee receiver as somebody he’d like to play with. However, Zacch Pickens may have those examples beat.
The 3rd round defensive tackle out of South Carolina was overjoyed when the Bears picked him last week. What made it even better was that they’d already taken Gervon Dexter in the 2nd round. That might sound odd. Both play the same position. One would think Pickens would be annoyed at the extra competition he would have to face. That is far from the truth. It turns out Pickens and Dexter had developed a friendship during the pre-draft process because the two had somehow ended up on the same visitation schedule with teams.
Even before the draft, Pickens predicted the two would end up together. Sure enough, the Bears made it happen.
Zacch Pickens likely saw the same thing the Bears did.
What makes the pairing such an obvious fit is how their skillsets mesh. Dexter is a big, strong, and physical presence at his best against the run. Pickens is the more explosive guy with long arms that can shoot gaps into the backfield as an interior pass rusher. If both develop as they should, they could become the Bears’ nose tackle and three-technique in this defense for years to come. Even better is that both can shift to the other position if necessary. They’re not stuck in one spot.
The Bears had seen something like this happen before. In 2004, they took Tommie Harris in the 1st round and Tank Johnson in the 2nd. They forged a capable pairing for a couple of years, including the 2006 Super Bowl run. Sadly Johnson couldn’t stay out of trouble with the law and was cut in 2007. Fans never got to see how good that pairing could’ve been. Maybe this time around could be different. Zacch Pickens certainly hopes so. If he’s right, this defense is about to get a lot better.
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