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Quarterback Jay Cutler is happy to see the Chicago Bears have made protecting their quarterback a priority after adding to the offensive line through free agency and with two draft picks.

The Bears, who gave up 49 sacks last season, which was fifth in the NFL, invested $17.7 million in guaranteed money in left tackle Jermon Bushrod and added guard Matt Slauson, who started 48 games the past four seasons for the New York Jets, during free agency. The Bears then picked Oregon guard Kyle Long with the 20th overall selection and Louisiana Tech offensive tackle Jordan Mills in the fifth round of the NFL draft.

"(The coaching staff is) going to make sure everyone knows their assignments and we are protected," Cutler said Monday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN Chicago 1000. "Bushrod is a huge addition and we drafted some guys and some of the guys we had last year have to step in and play well. It's definitely a point of emphasis. We're not going to let the quarterback get hit. We're not going to go into games unsure about protections. Everything starts there, and I think (new offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Aaron) Kromer is doing a great job with getting those guys up to speed with exactly how they want these things done."

With seven offensive linemen coming off the board before the Bears made their pick, Cutler said he wasn't sure what his team had planned with their first-round selection.

"I watched the first round and linemen were going off the board left and right so I wasn't too sure where we were going to go," Cutler said. "We have some holes defensively, we have Bushrod through free agency so I wasn't for sure about the pick. Like any quarterback I'm pretty selfish so anytime they pick somebody on offense it's going to make me smile."

Reading Mel Kiper Jr.'s grades the morning after the draft is like a holiday tradition. No matter how much we all understand intuitively that it's impossible to project future success, we still want to know what the man who has spent three decades evaluating draft classes thinks of our favorite team's efforts.

You'll need an Insider subscription to read the entire evaluation, but below is what I can sneak to you if you don't tell anyone:

Green Bay Packers

Mel's grade: B+

Kiper Jr. snippet: " I love what Green Bay got out of this draft, particularly at two spots -- defensive end and running back."

Seifert comment: The Packers really went after the running back position, drafting two backs -- Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin -- that many teams pegged as feature backs on their own. Franklin also hedges concerns about Lacy's durability. The Packers can feel confident that at least one of them will make an impact on 2013. Defensive end Datone Jones is a different-looking player than what the Packers currently have at the position, and fits into the league's trend toward longer and leaner even for 3-4 ends.

Minnesota Vikings

Mel's grade: B

Kiper Jr. snippet: "Hey, they got starters, but they needed to add impact in this draft considering they dealt [Percy] Harvin and had a few pretty big needs."

Seifert comment: A good portion of evaluating this draft will come down to whether receiver Cordarrelle Patterson pans out. The Vikings gave up their chance to draft a starting-caliber middle linebacker, among other things, by trading back up into the first round to draft him. The Harvin trade was a big motivator. Kiper really thought the Vikings needed to get linebacker Manti Te'o; I just thought they needed someone at that position. Seventh-round draft pick Michael Mauti could be a factor if he can recover from a third torn ACL. Regardless, three first-round draft choices give the Vikings a good chance at a high-impact draft.

Detroit Lions

Mel's grade: B

Kiper Jr. snippet: "The pivot point for how we see this draft in three years will be [Ezekiel] Ansah. If he's great, then it looks good. If he's not, and Dee Milliner thrives with the Jets, fans will wonder."

Seifert comment: It would be disappointing if the Lions didn't get at least two functional starters out of their first three picks. It doesn't matter who is on the field for the first play of the game, but you would like to see Ansah get as many snaps as he can for development purposes. Cornerback Darius Slay should compete with Bill Bentley to start opposite Chris Houston and, at worst, play in nickel situations that comprise more than half of most team's defensive snaps. And third-round guard Larry Warford should push hard for the right guard spot.

Chicago Bears

Mel's grade: C+

Kiper Jr. snippet: "My issue with [Kyle] Long isn't that he's short on talent -- he's not. I just wasn't in love with the value."

Seifert comment: We'll never know if the Bears would have been better off trading down to grab Long later or waiting until the second round. Kiper Jr. didn't like the decision and thought tight end Tyler Eifert would have been a better choice. I'm stuck here, because we all know how much help the Bears' offensive line needs. Solidifying an interior spot, if that's what Long does, will help quarterback Jay Cutler in a measureable way. That's no different in the big picture than what Eifert could do. We all can agree, however, that the Bears upgraded their linebacker depth significantly with Jon Bostic and Khaseem Greene.

Related: For fun, here are Kiper Jr.s NFC North grades for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 drafts.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Saturday’s fifth-round choice of Louisiana Tech offensive tackle Jordan Mills is just the latest in a series of moves the Chicago Bears have made to overhaul the offensive line -- clearly the weakest unit on the team last season in the eyes of general manager Phil Emery.

The Bears are set at left tackle with Pro Bowler Jermon Bushrod.

On the right side - it’s a different story.

Veterans J'Marcus Webb and Jonathan Scott are expected to battle it out for the starting right tackle job, but neither is assured of a spot long-term. Webb and Scott are signed through 2013.

Mills is a versatile player who lined up primarily at tackle at Louisiana Tech, but also spent time at guard in 2009. At 6-5, 315 pounds, Mills has the size to play offensive tackle in the NFL, however, the Bears do seem determined to plug in larger bodies inside at guard.

“I’ll play anywhere, left side or right side.” Mills. “I told my coaches I’ll play anywhere they need me. Wherever they need me to win, I’ll be there. Like I told my coaches, if they need me at H-Back to lead block, I’ll do that.”

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- New Chicago Bears guard Kyle Long readily admits his meteoric rise up the draft charts to the 20th overall pick Thursday wouldn’t have been possible without an invitation to the Senior Bowl.

But now that he’s here, the plan is to make the organization and fan base thankful for making the decision, despite limited experience (five games) as a starter at Oregon.

“If it weren’t for the invite to the Senior Bowl that I got the opportunity to play against the elite competition that was there, I’d probably still be waiting around,” Long said.

He’s probably correct. Still, there’s no denying the buzz Long created in the scouting community with a few dominant workouts at the Senior Bowl, despite missing practice time due to a bout with the flu. Long’s performance made already-interested teams want to look deeper.

Of all the teams poking and prodding at Long during the pre-draft process, the Bears, he said, had done the most homework.

Perhaps the work wouldn’t have even been done by the Bears if not for a little persistence last season on Long’s part.

Rotating at offensive tackle with Tyler Johnstone in 2012, Long didn’t make his first start until Nov. 13 at USC. At first, Long was fine with the rotation because Oregon’s uptempo offensive attack produced so many snaps that it allowed him to play 45 to 50 snaps per game. Long felt that was sufficient enough for him to build game film for a shot at the NFL.

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long couldn't be happier to see his son land in Chicago.

"This is to me one of the crown-jewel franchises in football," Howie Long said Friday after his son Kyle, an offensive lineman, was chosen with the Bears’ first pick. "There’s not a lot of them. The town, the history of the organization, the great players who’ve played here, the expectations in the building, it’s important.

“And it doesn’t hurt to have a franchise quarterback, much as that pains me to say.”

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Veteran NFL offensive line coach Tony Wise, who worked with Chicago Bears first-round pick Kyle Long, said Friday he thinks Long should be a starting left tackle in the NFL.

"After having worked with him, if he's coming to the team I'm on, he's going to left tackle immediately," Wise said on "The Carmen & Jurko Show" on ESPN 1000. "There's not many guys that are 6-7 with that kind of reach that can change direction and turn the corner the way this guy can. Now if he can't make it at left tackle, he's going to right tackle immediately after that. He'll have a career at right tackle.

"This guy's an athlete."

Listen to the entire podcast for more thoughts Wise has about Long.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- If a team wants to play it safe in the NFL draft, it's tough to go wrong when it goes big in the first round, which is what the Chicago Bears did Thursday in selecting Oregon offensive guard Kyle Long -- son of the legendary Howie Long -- with the 20th pick.

Still, it's a move worth questioning.

Long was the eighth offensive lineman selected in the first round and is the first guard taken by the franchise in the first round since 1960. Long immediately revs up the competition for the starting job at left guard, and if he ends up starting, the new Bear potentially provides the final ingredient for a near-total makeover on the offensive line.

But given his limited body of work, it's absolutely fair to scrutinize this pick, even with general manager Phil Emery working hard at selling Long immediately after the move as "the type of athlete that we have targeted: a fast, tough, dynamic athlete."

With just four starts of major college football on his dossier, even Long seemed surprised.

"I didn't expect to go this high in the draft," Long said.

Many didn't.

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Here's a look at the Chicago Bears' first-round selection (20th overall), Oregon guard Kyle Long.

Long played in 11 games last season for the Ducks, with four starts, in his lone year of FBS football.

His reaction: "I'm very excited and grateful to be a Chicago Bear," Long said. "I didn't expect to go this high in the draft, and I'm just very excited to join an organization with such a great history and such a great fan base. Not enough can be said about the Chicago Bears organization."

Strengths: Long comes from an excellent football family. His father is Hall of Famer Howie Long and his brother is St. Louis Rams DE Chris Long. Good size. Played for a national championship contender for one season. Tested well at the NFL combine. Long obviously made a solid impression on the Bears during his pre-draft visit. GM Phil Emery said Long's versatility is appealing: "That's part of the reason why we're excited about having him here, is his versatility. He's going to start out at guard. We feel like he can be a starting right tackle. We feel like he can be a good left tackle in this league. So that's part of what attracted us to him."

Weaknesses: Long played only one year at Oregon after beginning his collegiate career as a baseball player at Florida State; then he played football for two seasons at a community college before enrolling at Oregon. Long was drafted by the White Sox in the 23rd round of the 2008 amateur draft. So he doesn't have much football experience. Long had an ankle injury as a senior and also had an off-the-field incident. Scouts downgrade him for his arm length, but that shouldn't be much of a concern on the interior of the offensive line.

By the numbers: Long stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 313 pounds. Ran a 4.94 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. Had the lowest body-fat percentage of any offensive lineman at the combine (15.8). "His Senior Bowl was excellent," Emery said. "I thought he was the best offensive lineman on the field at the Senior Bowl."

What it means: Emery said Long will initially line up at left guard and is expected to contribute immediately. Emery noted that Long could also be a Pro Bowl-caliber offensive tackle. The Bears consider Long a "rare" athlete who can step into a leadership role. He will be expected to push James Brown and Matt Slauson for a starting job. The club needed help on the offensive line despite the offseason additions of Slauson and left tackle Jermon Bushrod. With Syracuse OL Justin Pugh coming off the board at No. 19, the Bears clearly felt they needed to address the line, even though Long was the eighth lineman taken in the first 20 picks.

"I wasn't surprised that I ended up getting picked by the Bears," Long said. "I thought I had a great visit with [Bears offensive line coach Aaron] Kromer. I really enjoyed my time in Chicago. I had a great opportunity to sit down and get to know the people in the building. When I walked into O'Hare and was getting ready to fly back home, I had a great feeling about Chicago. Coach Kromer is a great coach, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity of trying to earn the respect of my teammates and hopefully be able to help the Chicago Bears."

More reaction:

Welcome to the windy city Kyle Long! Glad to have you #BearDown

— Lance Briggs (@LanceBriggs) April 26, 2013

Next: The Bears are scheduled to pick No. 50 overall in the second round on Friday. Unless they trade the pick, which is possible, the team should still have an opportunity to grab a linebacker, or possibly a cornerback. Prior to the draft, the Bears worked out a significant number of linebackers and cornerbacks who most experts labeled as second- to mid-round picks.