Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace Evolution: Tight End

How has the tight end room advanced over the Ryan Pace tenure?

As we get ready to enter year four of Ryan Pace as the Chicago Bears General Manager, he has truly put his hands into every position top to bottom. It marks a good time to look back and think about what he inherited, and how he has been able to improve the roster.

This series has covered the quarterback room, running back room and wide receiver room. Now, onto tight ends.

2015

Martellus Bennett, Zach Miller, Kheri Lee

Pace inherited Bennett and the end of his tenure was not well received by the front office. Needless to say the team moved on after one season.

Pace also inherited Miller, who stuck around a bit longer. Lee was the lone offseason acquisition at tight end, and he was a quick bust.

2016

Zach Miller, Logan Paulsen, Daniel Brown, Ben Braunecker

Like the quarterback room, Pace first recognized the weakness on the back end of the roster. He brought in three players with somewhat limited ceilings.

Paulsen was a free agent signing, Brown came in during the season and Braunecker was a UDFA. Still, two of those three still hold up the back end of the depth chart.

2017

Zach Miller, Dion Sims, Adam Shaheen, Daniel Brown, Ben Braunecker

With the back end secured, Pace then started shooting for starters. Sims via free agency and Shaheen via the draft have starter upside. Sims started immediately, Shaheen is set to be a potential breakout in 2018.

2018

Dion Sims, Trey Burton, Adam Shaheen, Daniel Brown, Ben Braunecker

With the addition of Matt Nagy, this went from a room with trouble at the top and no names at the bottom to a staple of the offense.

Sims, Burton and Shaheen are all going to see playing time. Brown and Braunecker are still holding up the back end and have roles if starters go down. This is  another position where Pace clearly had a plan and slowly built up a room in each offseason.