Reviewing Ryan Pace history with small schools in NFL Draft

You often hear Ryan Pace being associated with a small school player. It is fair considering he has walked away with a non-FBS player in every year that he was a GM since 2015. Beyond that, he has dipped into the non-power five schools pretty frequently as well. With a long history that he has built, what does his record look like with small school players?

Wait until Day 3

To start, Ryan Pace likes his small school players, but he does not take them on the first two days of the NFL draft. Pace has had 39 draft picks since 2015. Of those, only 14 have come on the first two days of the draft. That is the price of trading up and trading for Khalil Mack.

Still, of those 14 picks, 12 have come from Power Five schools. Only Anthony Miller who went to FBS Memphis and Adam Shaheen who went to a non-FBS school would be labeled small school players that Ryan Pace has drafted early.

The returns of Shaheen are obvious. The Bears have an extra sixth-round pick this year from their former second-round pick. We will see how that turns out, but so far it is not a good return on investment. Miller, on the other hand, has produced enough to where he is not a bust but has not lived up to his draft hype at all. Beyond that, Miller is a player that Pace traded future assets for.

Ryan Pace History with Power 5 FBS schools on Day 3

Pace has made 25 picks on day three. 12 of them went to power five players. Some of the successes from big schools on day three were Adrian Amos, Nick Kwiatkoski, Jordan Howard, and Eddie Jackson. Players such as Javon Wims, Deon Bush, and Duke Shelley have at least made impacts on Sundays in the NFL as well. Arlington Hambright, Riley Ridley, Kylie Fitts, Jeremy Langford, and Tayo Fabuluje have made no impact so far.

Still, four starters, and three players who have started multiple games are not bad from 12 day three picks.

Ryan Pace history with Non-Power 5 FBS schools

Some would label these small schools, but with Ryan Pace, he often goes deeper. Still, Ryan Pace has drafted six players on day three from non-power five FBS schools. Those players include Daniel Braverman, Joel Iyiegbuniwe, Kerrith Whyte, Trevis Gipson, Darnell Mooney, Kindle Vildor.

It looks as though Darnell Mooney is a smashing hit, and is a starter. You can argue that Kindle Vildor has had some impact and will be in the mix next offseason. The rest is not good, though. Remember Daniel Braverman? At least he stayed longer than Kerrith Whyte.

Pace traded a future pick for Gipson, but after a season behind James Vaughters, there are questions as to whether he can bring anything. It is fair to say that Pace has had more success going for big schools on day three than non-power five.

Ryan Pace history with Non-FBS schools

These are the players where Ryan Pace is usually going off the grid and taking his stand on someone. Even with Day three picks, these are high for the type of players being taken. He has taken seven players from these small schools.

Deiondre Hall

DeAndre-Houston Carson

Tarik Cohen

Jordan Morgan

Bilal Nichols

Stephen Denmark

Lachavious Simmons

DHC brings value for where he was selected, while Cohen and Nichols are hits. The rest, not so much. So we see 3/7 to at least contribute from these small schools. That is better than the 2/6 from non-FBS schools, and Nichols has been the best of the bunch so far.

Still, with 7/12 contributors coming from the power five, it may be better for Pace to stick with his big school crushes, just like the others.

To be fair, Pace also did take the Power Five players higher on Day three.

Round by Round

In round 4, he took five players from big schools, 1 from a non-power 5, and 2 from non-FBS. He waited until round five or later to take his shot for the most part, and even then, the picks in round four.

Still, in round four he picked Tarik Cohen, Deiondre Hall, and Joel Iyiebuniwe. He is better off with Eddie Jackson, Nick K, Deon Bush, and Jeremy Langford.

In round four he hit on 3/4 big school picks and hit on 1/3 small school picks.

In round five, Pace took two players from big schools, three from non-power five, and two from non-FBS. Still, he hit on Adrian Amos and Jordan Howard. Bilal Nichols and Darnell Mooney hit, but Jordan Morgan and Trevis Gipson do not look good and Kindle Vildor does not help.

In round six Pace drafted three big school players to just one small school, and in round seven he took two big school, two non-power five, and two non-FBS players. Javon Wims is his best seventh-round pick to date, and once again is from a big school.

Tarik Cohen and Bilal Nichols make Ryan Pace feel the need to keep shooting at small school kids. However, he has had day three success taking big school players as much, if not more than he has with these hidden gems.