Bears resume building around Mitch Trubisky, draft Iowa center James Daniels with second-round pick

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A day after adding a big-time playmaker to their defense, the Bears went back to building around Mitch Trubisky and drafted Iowa interior offensive lineman James Daniels with the 39th overall pick. 

Daniels played center at Iowa, which could mean Cody Whitehair moves back to guard — the position at which the Bears drafted him in the second round two years ago. Either way, this move strengthens the interior of the Bears’ offensive line and will work to keep defenders out of Trubisky’s face. It also should help the Bears’ inside zone running game with Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen.

Almost every big move made by Ryan Pace from January 1 until Thursday night was aimed at building a better structure for the development of Trubisky. Pace needed to add a playmaker to Vic Fangio’s defense, and did so by drafting Roquan Smith with the eighth overall pick. But addressing the interior of their offensive line was a major need, too — after everything Pace did in hiring Matt Nagy and signing a bunch of weapons for Trubisky, it makes sense that he’d work to protect the most important player for the Bears’ success in 2018. 

The 6-foot-3, 306 pound Daniels still has to refine his game, but he’ll work under Harry Hiestand in Chicago — and Hiestand, after all, developed two of the first nine picks in this year’s NFL Draft while at Notre Dame. Daniels won’t turn 21 until Sept. 13, so he’s still a young prospect. 

Daniels’ father, LeShun Sr., played guard at Ohio State and appeared in one game for the Minnesota Vikings in 1997. And Daniels’ brother, LeShun Jr., appeared in four games as a running back for Washington as a rookie in 2017. 

Daniels said at the NFL Combine he’s studied Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, which probably was music to Nagy’s ears given the Bears’ offense will be cut from the same Andy Reid cloth as Doug Pederson’s in Philadelphia. 

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