Congratulations! You've just made the wonderful decision to draft James Daniels! Like most new James Daniels owners, you're no doubt filled with questions about your new family member. We here at GIA will try our best to answer any questions you might have.

HELLO CHICAGO BEARS!

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT JAMES DANIELS

Daniels is the most athletic center to ever play for Kirk Ferentz's Iowa Hawkeyes and their best offensive line prospect since Brandon Scherff in 2015. He was a 4-star recruit out of Warren, Ohio who saw the field immediately as a true freshman in 2015. Due to his versatility, he saw two starts at left guard and by his sophomore season he was Iowa's starting center, a position he never relinquished until he announced his early departure to the NFL following his junior year. Daniels is strong, has excellent footwork and has started in an NFL zone blocking scheme for three seasons.

WHAT DID HE DO THAT’S SO GREAT?

James Daniels first start at center was on September 3rd, 2016, when he was only an 18 year old true sophomore. An outsider to this Iowa program should realize how rare it is that: 1) An 18-year old is even playing; 2) An 18-year old is starting; and 3) An 18-year old is starting on the unit that Kirk Ferentz puts the most emphasis on. Iowa runs a developmental program so unless injuries make it absolutely necessary, Ferentz likes to build his offensive linemen up before throwing them into the fold. But there are exceptions to the rule, of course, such as when Iowa has a physical specimen at their disposal and wants to see how well he’ll do. James Daniels was one of those guys and when he took the starting job at center, he never gave it up.

Why? Well, let’s look at a few short videos:

Iowa Center James Daniels (No. 78) vs. Wisconsin (2016)



Watch what he does on this play ... He scans the field (looking for work, as they say) and proceeds to absolutely wax the pass-rusher to his left.



That's outstanding line play and tells me he has a blue collar mentality. pic.twitter.com/XgaCoZ2tEi — Robert Reidell (@RobertReidell) March 21, 2018

This was against Wisconsin in 2016. A well-disciplined lineman, Daniels is consistently looking for work on the field even when he doesn’t have a blocking assignment. That ends in unfortunate defensive tackles getting pancaked. Here’s another example of that against Boston College:

James Daniels looking for work lays a good assist to his guard pic.twitter.com/yKU7CrrKs8 — Billy Marshall (@BillyM_91) April 4, 2018

Daniels' strength is in run blocking, as seen here against Wisconsin and against Penn State in the second video:

.@HawkeyeFootball CENTER. #JamesDaniels is a dominant college player and many of his skills will translate easily to the NFL. #BaldyBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/gs7cDrVRTM — Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) April 6, 2018

Time for one last thread before the #NFLDraft. Will do it on #Iowa center James Daniels who @MikeMayock mocked to the #Patriots. Daniels gets on his blocks faster than any IOL I've scouted the last few years and converts his speed very well into power in the run game. pic.twitter.com/vvSjqquxQ6 — Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) April 26, 2018

That second video is what NFL Scouts were excited about: his explosiveness off of the line of scrimmage. Daniels can make his way to the second level in a hurry and has the athletic ability to block in open space. In general, he’s just a very talented, exceptionally disciplined offensive lineman.

STATS

Daniels is an offensive lineman so he doesn’t have any stats to speak of but we can take pleasure in noting that he was Academic All-Big Ten, honorable mention All-Big Ten and started 25 games at Iowa.

HOW ARE HIS PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES?

The NFL Combine is where James Daniels made his money. First off, he had great arm length and as we know, they love some arm length in the NFL:

Iowa center James Daniels, a first-round prospect, with a great arm length of 33 6/8". That's what teams want to see. — Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) February 28, 2018

Daniels didn’t run the 40-yard dash due to a hamstring issue but had a 30.5 inch vertical, the second fastest 3-cone drill, the fastest 20-yard shuffle and the 10th best long jump. More importantly: he was exceptional in the drills:

Fantastic movement by James Daniels. This is textbook fundamentals. pic.twitter.com/0ntMz3zEyO — Billy Marshall (@BillyM_91) March 2, 2018

HIGHLIGHTS

Q: Who wants a potential franchise center?



A: Every @NFL team, and @HawkeyeFootball's James Daniels is available: pic.twitter.com/qUUxnlmUZt — Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) April 24, 2018

WHAT ABOUT THE BAD?

The biggest criticism of Daniels is his size. He's only (only) 6'3, while the average NFL offensive lineman is 6'5. Whether that's legitimate criticism is questionable, as two time Pro Bowler Rodney Hudson is only 6'2, Jason Kelce is 6'3, and Jeff Saturday, one of the greatest centers of all time, was 6'2. Fun fact: James Daniels has longer arms than every one of these guys.

WAS THIS A GOOD PICK?

This is as close to lights-out as the Bears can get at the 39th pick. Daniels is young enough to stick in the league for well over a decade, was the highest-rated run blocker among all 2018 draft-eligible centers, and even has the versatility to slide over to guard. The bears are likely to maintain a run-heavy offense into 2018 as Mitchell Trubisky continues to develop as a signal-caller, and for an offense that is merely adequate at center (Cody Whitehair) and deeply challenged at guard (oft-injured Kyle Long and whodat Eric Kush are both listed on CBS), bringing in a top-flight athlete from a top-flight offensive line school dramatically changes the competition level on the Bears interior.