Chicago Bears: A breakdown with grades of Ryan Pace’s 2021 draft trades

The Chicago Bears and Ryan Pace seem to have been reading my mind. I have done plenty of mock drafts, but my all-time favorite option in the first round was always Justin Fields. Plenty of times though, when I did not look to trade up into the top eight, none of the quarterbacks were available at 20 or in the mid-teens.

As rumors started going around about the possibility of Justin Fields falling in the first round, many Chicago Bears fans started to get excited. Many, not all, wanted Ryan Pace to try and move up in the 2021 NFL Draft to select a quarterback. Everyone pretty much knew that Trevor Lawrence was never going to happen, and most assumed Zach Wilson was going to the Jets second overall. Most fans had a favorite of the three most likely to be available in Trey Lance, Mac Jones or Justin Fields.

Obviously, by now, everyone knows that the Chicago Bears traded up in the first round of the draft to select Justin Fields. We are going to talk about the trade in more detail later. Right now, let’s talk a little bit about the outcome of this draft and what the team will probably look like in 2021.

To kick us off, let’s talk about the quarterback position. As it stands today, the quarterback room is made up of Andy Dalton, Nick Foles and now Justin Fields. It will be interesting if the Bears can find a way to move on from Foles. Based on his contract and guarantees, it is more likely that he will stay. This means that the Chicago Bears will need to hold onto three quarterbacks on the active roster for the first time in a while.

The other big area of concern was the offensive line. Plenty of questions still exist around that area of the offense, but finding two offensive linemen in this draft could help. Especially, since one looks to be a plug-and-play type of player. How did Ryan Pace make this happen, though?  Trades, trades and trades. Let’s take a look at what happened.