Potential Bears target must deal with critical unnamed sources

Maybe the 10th pick could be used for a back after all, or the Bears could move back a little and draft Hampton?

Guess again, say McGinn's sources.

One scout compared Hampton to Latavius Murray, a 10-year back who only went over 842 yards once.

"Big dude with some niftiness,' said a third scout," McGinn wrote. "'Short bursts. More of a downhill, crease runner. Really good hands out of the backfield.'"

The summary: " 'I like him but I don't think he's any star,' " McGinn quoted the scout as saying.

Another scout was a little more damaging, although he did appreciate Hampton's physique, equating it to an "'Under Armour mannequin.'"

"'But he runs really high. Pretty tight and stiff. The best running backs are guys with low centers of gravity, lateral agility, contact balance. This guy's just big and straight-line fast. Maybe in the right scheme, maybe an outside zone-49ers-Sean McVay get him on a track and get him downnill and then he can away from people. But it's such an instinctive position. I just didn't see a guy with great vision and contact balance. But the production's there.'"

The really damaging blow came from this scout.

"'I'd see him third or fourth round. I'd be shocked if he went first or second round,'" McGinn quoted the scout as saying.

Hampton's most recent projections have put him between 10 and 15 overall. So seeing this is rather shocking.

A team like the Bears that is looking for a potential bell cow back will obviously have its own assessment. It must be pointed out, also, that as of the end of March there has been no top-30 visit slated for the Bears with Hampton.

The backfield talent has been judged as deep and McGinn in a tweet has said as much. The problem with this position has been how low it was graded for years.

Teams in need of backs, and with the knowledge there is also an abundance of talent out there at other positions, probably need to be wary of using picks for players at this position they might be able to find with a later pick.

And everyone needs to be wary of unnamed sources.