Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace’s track record of top-50 draft picks

The defender who the Chicago Bears let get away

The Chicago Bears general manager should be broken down by top 50, top 100, and top 150 when judging his performance as a drafter. As I stated earlier, Ryan Pace has a 6-of-9 success rate when drafting inside of the top 50. The top-50 players that Ryan Pace selected include:

• Kevin White (7th overall)
• Eddie Goldman (39 overall)
• Leonard Floyd (9th overall)
• Mitchell Trubisky (2nd overall)
• Adam Shaheen (45th overall)
• Roquan Smith (8th overall)
• James Daniels (39th overall)
• Cole Kmet (43rd overall)
• Jaylon Johnson (50th overall)
• Justin Fields (not counted 11th overall)
• Teven Jenkins ( not counted 39th overall)

So the prospects who busted on this list are Kevin White, Mitch Trubisky, and Adam Shaheen.  Sure, Mitch Trubisky could turn his career around, but the odds of that happening are incredibly against him. Some might feel Leonard Floyd should be on that bust list too.

I understand the concern about him and the fact that he was a top-10 selection. Floyd, as a prospect, is a talented edge defender who can gain sacks. I feel too many people expected J.J. Watt or Khalil Mack when a team drafts an edge player high in the draft. While Watt was the 11th-overall selection in his draft, he fell due to that class. Mack was the fifth overall selection.

If you follow the draft, you would have heard the words generational talent or player. Those were never things said for Leonard Floyd. The expectations might have been too high coming from the fans of the NFL. The states and tape don’t lie when it comes to Floyd. There is a reason Floyd was offered a four-year $64 million contract.

If you don’t see that he wasn’t a bust as a prospect, I don’t know what else to say. The Chicago Bears fan base can agree that Trubisky, Shaheen, and Kevin White (injuries) all busted.