The 1st round of the NFL Draft is tonight. The draft will compete at the same time slot with the NBA playoffs and the NHL playoffs. This is the first year that the NFL Draft is a three day event and the first night comes in primetime.

The Bears had a first round pick, but traded it to Denver for Jay Cutler at the start of the 2009 offseason. They also had a second round pick, but they traded that away to the Bucs for the late DE Gaines Adams. Their first pick won’t come until #75.

Chicago Bears draft needs in order by position ranked by me:

1) CB- Depth is very important for injury prone players like Charles Tillman and Zackary Bowman. This is a deep draft for corner-backs.

2) Free Safety- They need a solid free safety and this year their are safeties galore.

3) Guard- Josh Beekman and Lance Louis are potential starters at left guard, would it hurt to bring in competition for them?

4) DE- The release of veteran Alex Brown leaves the Bears with little depth behind Julius Peppers and Mark Anderson, Israel Idonije has never been a starter, Henry Melton was a rookie last season and got injured in the preseason and Jarron Gilbert is likely going to be moved DT.

5) Offensive Tackle- They need some depth behind Chris Williams and Frank Omiyale. Kevin Shaffer isn’t enough.

6) WR- Would it hurt to bring in another potential Johnny Knox with a fifth round pick?

Honorable Mentions:

QB- They will probably scoop up a veteran after the draft is over, but maybe Tebow falls to them. Most likely they will sign a QB off the street. Marc Bulger or Josh McCown would be nice options.

Center- It wouldn’t be bad to draft a center to groom under Olin Kreutz.

DT- The Bears need competition at this position.

The Bears should be able to get some good players at the positions they need because the draft class is so deep. Don’t expect the Bears to trade up if anything they’ll trade down, but most likely they’ll stay put with what they have. Free agency will find them some solid undrafted rookies and some veteran linemen or safeties.

1st round of the NFL Draft: 7:30 PM ET