Consider new Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky among those surprised he was selected No. 2 overall by Chicago on Thursday night.
"The commissioner went to the stand and he said my name and I couldn't believe it," Trubisky said on a conference call with Bears reporters Thursday. "It was an unreal moment and I can't wait to get started."
He partially couldn't believe it because, as the Chicago Tribune noted, Trubisky said he had almost no contact with the franchise after the combine. The Bears worked out Patrick Mahomes, attended DeShaun Waton's pro day and sat down with DeShone Kizer. Trubisky said there was a short on-campus workout but that he was not contacted by the Bears at any point afterward.
While this is not rare for other positional groups (see: Why pre-draft visits are often irrelevant) it seems like a stunning maneuver for a coaching staff already on the ropes. The quarterback position is unlike any other in the NFL and should be treated as such. There's no doubt the Bears did exhaustive research and maybe their comprehensive battle plan will emerge as time goes on, though at the moment the shock still resonates.
For now? Just surprise.
"I had one workout with them and after that it was pretty much silence so that's why I was surprised to hear my name called because we didn't have a lot of contact," Trubisky said, via the call transcript provided by the team. "But obviously they had done their research, was impressed with me at the combine and my workout, but I haven't had a whole lot of contact with them so that makes it just so much more surprising."
Amid the hysteria, poor Trubisky said he didn't even get the ceremonial pre-draft call from his future team. He found out only after the commissioner announced his name on television. It was that kind of night in Philadelphia (and Chicago, apparently).
"All they said was they're very excited and that they couldn't call me while I was back in the room because they were going nuts in the war-room," he said. "I'm very excited to get to Chicago and get to work."
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