Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace is more transparent predraft than some think

Ryan Pace may not throw out as much smoke as some Chicago Bears fans think

One theme that I noticed throughout the draft season was how skeptical some Chicago Bears fans were when reports of interest and team visits came up. “Well, must mean they do not like this player,” “Smokescreen”. It seems as though Chicago Bears fans are programmed to think that Ryan Pace is on another level of thinking even to the rest of the league.

This came about with some no-name mid-round picks with little connections to the team in the early tenure. On top of that, many did not see the Mitchell Trubisky selection coming. Even as the selection came in, NFL Network and ESPN speculated that Solomon Thomas could be the pick. However, we will get to that later.

The fact of the matter is that like everyone else, Pace uses these interviews and visits as a guide and when he does show interest he does have interest.

2015

Kevin White

The team had pre-draft interest in White. However, it is worth noting that they spent most of the rest of their time meeting with edge rushers and secondary players without drafting any edge rushers. They did draft Adrian Amos but did not show pre-draft interest in him.

2016

Leonard Floyd

Cody Whitehair

Roy Robertson-Harris

The Chicago Bears had interest in each of their first two picks of the 2016 season. So far they have been pretty transparent. Roy Robertson-Harris was a pre-draft visit that turned into a UDFA signing.

Now, Robertson-Harris is making plays on the team. Good thing they had that pre-draft interest.

2017

Mitchell Trubisky

Cameron Lee

A lot of people tied Thomas to the Bears, even when they traded up. However, of the quarterbacks, most beat writers saw the team favoring DeShaun Watson. That is why many are so untrusting of Pace.

The fact of the matter is that the team had a private workout with Trubisky. Trubisky told people the Bears were interested in him. We just didn’t listen.

2018

Roquan Smith

James Daniels

Anthony Miller

Ryan Nall

Ryan Winslow

This leads up to this past draft. The Chicago Bears spent time with Roquan Smith, James Daniels and Anthony Miller. They spent time with plenty of interior lineman and wide receivers in the round two range. This gives you the idea that the team had been eyeing up that trade scenario for a while.

On top of that, one of the favorite UDFA options to make the team was a player the Chicago Bears had pre-draft interest in. They also signed a punter after speaking with him privately.

The fact of the matter is that the Chicago Bears talk to so many players to get information on all of these names that it is tough to connect the dots. However, it does not mean the dots are not there. Following the storylines and the interest pre-draft is a good way to understand who the team may be favoring.

Ryan Pace is a young GM, but if he develops in Chicago for a while, there are also may be tendencies that can be picked up in his drafting as to the style of players he likes.

For now, we are still sorting out the narrative and the truth of what Pace favors. As for predraft interest, it is not nearly as much smoke as you think.