The Chicago Bears are declining the fifth-year contract option for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, which is just another reminder about how the top of the 2017 NFL Draft did not go too well.
As NFL Media’s James Palmer pointed out, only one of the top five picks from that year’s draft had his contract option picked up. None of the picks from 2-5 had their options picked up.
5th year options on the top 5 picks in 2017:
1. Browns DE Myles Garrett: yes
2. Bears QB Mitch Trubisky: no
3. 49ers DL Solomon Thomas: no
4. Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette: no
5. Titans WR Corey Davis: no— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) May 2, 2020
Myles Garrett has delivered for the Cleveland Browns, except for last year’s incident with Mason Rudolph. He has 30.5 sacks in 37 career games for Cleveland.
At No. 2, the Bears took Trubisky, who had a nice season with 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2018. But Trubisky has shown inconsistency and has seems to be below the level of a franchise quarterback. The Bears added Nick Foles this offseason to compete with him.
The 49ers drafted Solomon Thomas at No. 3. He has 73 tackles and six sacks in 46 career games but has not played like a top-five pick. Though Thomas has not worked out, the 49ers did draft a steal in the 5th round in George Kittle, so they can feel like they still made out well.
The Jaguars took Leonard Fournette at No. 4. He has rushed for 2,631 yards and 17 touchdowns in three seasons but has missed 12 games and has supposedly been a problem in the locker room. He was taken ahead of Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, and Alvin Kamara, who were three of the next five running backs taken (Joe Mixon was the fourth).
Tennessee thought they were getting a speedster in Corey Davis and didn’t mind his foot injury when they took him at No. 5. He only has six career touchdown catches and has not posted a 1,000-yard season yet. The wide receivers taken high in that draft have not produced well (Mike Williams, John Ross, Zay Jones, Curtis Samuel), while some taken lower have done well, like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Cooper Kupp, Chris Godwin and Kenny Golladay.
The real studs at the top of the draft came with Jamal Adams at No. 6, McCaffrey at No. 8, Patrick Mahomes at No. 10 and Deshaun Watson at No. 12. The 2017 draft wasn’t devoid of talent, you just had teams miss early.
