Signing Missouri wide receiver Emanuel Hall came as a surprise to many. The Chicago Bears have never been considered the hottest destination for receivers in the past. Besides that they’d already drafted a receiver a few hours before in Riley Ridley. Combined with Cordarrelle Patterson in free agency, it was confusing why Hall chose to go there.

Most considered him to be among the best players in the 2019 college class to not get drafted. Several experts had him rated as a Day 2 talent, going as high as the 2nd round according to both Lance Zierlein and Dane Brugler. This is a young man who went against doctor recommendations to participate at the scouting combine.

Then, with a linger groin issues, he ran a blazing 4.39 in the 40 and set a record for receivers in the broad jump with 11 feet, nine inches. He averaged over 20 yards per catch during his career in college despite dealing with multiple injuries. He was a legitimate deep threat with a world of potential.

One must imagine the Bears paid a substantial amount of money on the undrafted market to lure him in, right? Nope.

Bears scooped Emanuel Hall for cheap despite heavy interest around NFL

According to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic, Hall was in extremely high demand after the draft ended. Just minutes into the action, he had offers on the table from over two dozen teams. The Bears were one of them, but it turns out they weren’t the ones making the most aggressive push. It didn’t matter in the end. They got him anyway.

“When he surprisingly wasn’t drafted, Hall had offers from 25 teams — and that could have been 32 had he not agreed to come to Chicago so quickly… …Nagy and the Bears’ personnel staff had to be thrilled to land a player with Hall’s skill set, especially when competing with other teams offering more financially, and probably less in terms of wide receiver competition.”

This is proof positive that sometimes no amount of money matters. It’s all about the recruiting process. In the Bears’ case, they were fortunate to have wide receivers coach Mike Furrey under their employment. Hall stated the former NFL veteran and undrafted free agent was one of the “coolest” coaches he ever encountered. They connected instantly.

Suddenly a position that was absolutely barren of talent two years ago is swimming in it. So much that it’s gotten to a point where people fear Hall might not be able to crack the final roster. One he would’ve been a lock on back in 2017 before even stepping on the practice field. My how times change.