Schrock: Smith built, wired to be Bears' answer to draft ‘puzzle'

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The Bears will spend the next month trying to solve a critical NFL draft “puzzle,” one that has Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter at the center.

Carter would fill a massive hole in the Bears’ defensive front, but questions about his maturity, love of the game, and recent legal issues – Carter pled no contest to two misdemeanors this month – make the decision more difficult.

When the Bears go on the clock either at No. 9 or later after a trade down, they have to select a player who is wired to thrive in the culture head coach Matt Eberflus is creating. They need elite talent, yes. But they are also in need of someone who can come in and become an integral part of the bedrock of this rebuild.

Someone who will produce on Sunday but also set the pace from Monday to Saturday.

General manager Ryan Poles’ comments at the owner’s meetings made it sound like the Bears might be leaning away from Carter. The risk is too big for a young team that needs time to grow in the H.I.T.S principle cocoon Eberflus has created at Halas Hall.

But while the Bears might be turning away from Carter, another top prospect from Georgia might check all of the boxes Eberflus and Poles want in their first-round pick.

Nolan Smith put on a show at the NFL Scouting Combine, running a 4.39 40-yard dash with a 1.52 10-yard split and a 41.5-inch vertical.

He also exudes everything the Bears claim they want their players to be about.

“I love the game,” Smith told NBC Sports Chicago about what he hopes teams learn about him during the pre-draft process. “I’ve been playing this game since I was four. This is my dream. I get to live out my dream. I just love it. Working out, any part of football. Talking about the game gets me excited. This is what I wanted to do since I was four years old.”

Before Smith blew people away at the combine, Eberflus pulled back the curtain on what he’ll prioritize as he adds to the Bears roster.

“It isn't for everybody,” Eberflus said. “That comes down to the No. 1 thing, the love of football. They have to love the game. How do they show that? It's what they show on tape. We're going to evaluate the number first. It doesn't matter if it's free agency or draft, we evaluate that. The passion that they have, the competes that they have on the field is the most important thing, and then we've got to figure out culturally, does he fit as a person, as a teammate and all those things. But No. 1 he has to have love for the game.”

Might it be right for Smith, though?

For Smith, football is life.

That’s evident in the ferocity he played with while terrorizing quarterbacks on Saturdays in the SEC. But it’s also evident in the way his eyes light up when discussing the game that has been his guiding light since the age of four.

“It’s the way you play the game,” Smith told NBC Sports Chicago when asked how he shows teams he truly loves football. “It’s also in the way you are. The way people talk to you and how you reciprocate that and let them know that you know your stuff about the game. That you know the ins and outs, the Xs and Os. Not only can you play the game, but you can play the game within the game.

“Most people don’t know that this is chess not checkers. This is grown man’s game and we’re in a grown man’s league. Just talking about it gets me excited, gets me worked up. Then, I tell them ‘let’s put on film.’ I can name every play that we went through, every formation, everything that we do on defense and what the offenses try to do to us.”

Smith entered the pre-draft process with questions about his size and whether or not his slight frame could be an issue taking on NFL tackles.

Based on his measurables, you might expect Smith to be a speed-rush guru who might struggle to defend the run.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Smith notched just 12.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss during his career at Georgia and never hit the double-digit mark in either category in a single season. However, Smith did post s 22.6 percent pass-rush win rate this past season, per Pro Football Focus.

It’s run defense where Smith shined. He has excellent technique and excels at using his leverage, making it difficult to move him off his spot.

That Smith pours his heart into stopping the run points to an ethos that will fit in perfectly with the culture Eberflus is cultivating at Halas Hall.

“You have to stop the run first before you can get to the quarterback,” Smith said. “Coach [Kirby Smart} would say, ‘no edge, no chance.’ We always setting edges on our defense. You must stop the rush first. It’s a privilege to rush the passer. I want the privilege.”

“It’s a privilege to rush the passer” is a phrase straight out of the Eberflus football bible. It was recited several times last season as the Bears’ defensive front struggled to stop the run or generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

The Bears lacked a true difference-maker on the edge and were pushed around at the point of attack on a weekly basis.

There’s a deep need for a tone-setter in the defensive line room. A guy at the top of the totem pole who has the ability and drive to make everyone better.

Smith, the No. 1 recruit coming out of high school, was forged in a cauldron of competition at Georgia. Yet, in an era of relative free player movement at the college level, Smith never debated transferring for more playing time, nor did he look for a team where he could shine brighter with lesser players around him.

“Iron sharpens iron,” Smith told NBC Sports Chicago. “Iron does sharpen iron. If you go against someone that’s a 10, that’s going to keep going and is pushing you every day, then you’re eventually going to be there, and you’re going to try and push yourself to keep everything going.

“You just really have to be a sponge,” Smith added about what he learned spending four years surrounded by NFL talent. “It was an honor being a second-stringer behind Azeez Ojulari for two years because he went in the second round, and he’s balling in the league right now. I learned so much just from how you work, how you go about things, how you show up. I still remember my freshman year, I’d be like, ‘Oh man, Azeez come to the facility a whole hour, two hours early. Way before I even thought about it. I’m going to get up and start coming in early.

“Those little things that he teaches you and he doesn’t even have to tell you.”

RELATED: Schrock's Mock Draft 5.0: Bears go back to the trenches

Talent, desire, intelligence. Check, check, check.

Spend some time with Smith and listen to him talk about his time at Georgia and how football makes his soul move, and you start to see and hear a guy with everything the Bears covet.

Nolan Smith has reached out to former Bears and former Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith for intel on the Bears.

The 22-year-old said his Bulldog brother had only good things to say about the organization and how Eberflus allows his defenders to flow like Smart does at Georgia.

Taking Smith at No. 9 might be a reach. The Bears have a big need at offensive tackle, which they must address in the early part of the draft.

But Poles will be open to moving down again. Sliding down a few spots and picking up an extra Day 2 pick while drafting Smith could wind up being the type of savvy move a successful rebuild needs.

Eberflus wants edge rushers with great bend and get off. Smith has both. He covets explosion. Got that. Whoever the Bears bring into the building must be fueled by a white-hot fire that cannot be extinguished. There has to be an unbeatable work ethic with the talent to match.

“I’m going to lead by example first,” Smith told NBC Sports Chicago when asked what teams will get when they draft him. “I’m going to ask you to do it with me. If you have to do extra or you didn’t do something right, I’m going to do it with you again.

“I’m just a hard-working kid that’s excited to be there. I know that it’s an honor for me to be there. It’s not my right. That’s how I’m going to treat it everyday in the NFL.”

Nolan Smith might as well have been tailor-made for Matt Eberflus and the H.I.T.S principle. The only question is: Will the Bears see what’s staring them right in the face?

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