Who are Ryan Pace’s Three Guys?

Ryan Pace is targeting three guys with the third pick. Who might they be?

Ryan Pace met with reporters on Wednesday and said that he and the rest of the Chicago Bears front office had narrowed their targets at number three to just three different prospects. If the reports that have surfaced are true that the Bears will not take a QB at three, then the speculation can begin about who the Bears might be targeting.

The only offensive player that can be worthy of a top three pick is LSU RB Leonard Fournette and with Jordan Howard on the roster, if there was a way to make the odds of this selection less than zero that should be the case. It’s simple logic that tells you the Bears are targeting defense with the third pick. Pace did leave the door open to trading down, as he isn’t afraid to do. Pace knows he needs bodies and would happily collect more picks along the way.

"If we go back mid-first round, here’s the group of players we’re talking about that we like, that we think realistically will be there. If we go back later in the first round, here’s another group of players we realistically think’ll be there. It’s just kind of going over those scenarios right now."

The fact that Pace simply acknowledged “mid-first round” makes you think that Pace would absolutely consider trading the pick to Cleveland if they can get the right return so the Browns can draft Trubisky. But as he mentioned, if they stay at three, they have three guys they like, who might they be?

With the trouble that Kevin White has had staying on the field, coupled with the idea that the Bears couldn’t keep anyone on the field last year, it’s hard to imagine the Bears taking anyone with injury concerns. If that’s the case, that should eliminate Malik Hooker and Jonathan Allen.

We’ve already eliminated Fournette, and we’re going to believe the reports about no QB, so that eliminates Trubisky and Watson. Christian McCaffrey might also be worthy of a top ten pick, but we will eliminate him with the Jordan Howard rule as well. One also has to assume that of the three guys Pace is talking about, one of them is not Myles Garrett. Pace has no expectations that Garrett will be anything other than the first pick of the draft, so that wouldn’t be Pace’s guy.

When you look at it that way, that really only leaves four players worthy of a top three pick: Alabama’s Reuben Foster, Stanford’s Solomon Thomas, LSU’s Jamal Adams and Ohio State’s Marshon Lattimore. While Foster is a rare talent, the character issues surrounding him would not be something the Bears’ franchise would consider taking with the third overall pick.

Any of the other three players make sense for Chicago. Adams is a smooth defender that can step in immediately and start, Lattimore has the ability to be a shutdown corner which is something the Bears desperately need and Thomas has the type of athleticism and versatility that Pace (and Vic Fangio) drool over.

Whatever Pace has up his sleeve, we are less than three hours from finding out who the next player to don the Navy and Orange is. Tonight is an exciting night, Bear Down!