Phil Emery served as the Bears’ general manager for only three years, and his time is mostly remembered, justifiably, as a disaster. However, he actually drafted better than most fans might appreciate.
Consider this—of the nearly 800 players drafted in the NFL during the time that Emery was a GM, a bit less than a third of them were active through 2018 (252/763). By comparison, 7 of Emery’s 20 draft picks were still active through 2018. That’s just a bit more than a third, but it functionally suggests that Emery was about average for the league.