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With the 50th pick in Pride Of Detroit's 2013 NFL mock draft, the Chicago Bears select Alabama offensive guard/center Barrett Jones. Lions fan displaced in las vegas is serving as the Bears' general manager, and his reasoning for the pick is below.
As the Chicago Bears GM, I drafted Alec Ogletree in the first round, filling the Bears' biggest need on defense. With the signing of Andre Fluellen in free agency, I feel like I can now focus on the offensive side of the ball with my second-round pick. I feel like the biggest need on offense for the Bears is at guard and center. With that said, I decided to draft Barrett Jones, center/guard from Alabama. This was actually an easy pick for me to make.
Barrett Jones is 6'5", 306 lbs. and he is one of the most versatile offensive linemen in this draft class. After redshirting in 2008, Jones started 49 of the next 53 games for the Crimson Tide. He had 25 starts at right guard, 14 starts at center and 10 at left tackle. Jones was a third team All-American in 2010 starting at right guard. In 2011, he earned the Outland Trophy as the nation's top lineman and was a consensus All-American at left tackle. In 2012, he started all 14 games for the Tide at center and was once again a consensus All-American. He also received the Rimington Trophy as the nation's best center.
Jones has excellent fundamentals and he is solid at both pass blocking and run blocking. Jones needs to get stronger to have the type of success he had in college, but with his work ethic I don't think that will be a problem. Jones is a steal falling this far down in the draft. If it wasn't for Jones having surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury earlier this year, he would have been a first-round pick. Jones should be ready to participate in the Bears' mandatory minicamp on June 11. I expect Jones to be starting at either center or right guard by Week 1 depending on where the coaching staff decides to start Roberto Garza.
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Check out the 2013 Pride Of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.