The Chicago Bears have an issue with their drafting process
By Cody Young
Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears need to adjust their draft strategy
With the news that came out this morning that second-round draft pick Teven Jenkins will need back surgery, it’s time to address a big issue with Ryan Pace — the Chicago Bears have with the way they draft.
Chicago Bears general manager, Ryan Pace loves to get aggressive during the NFL Draft and has shown time and time again that he’s not afraid to go up and get his guy. This can be a good strategy but at some point, you have to protect your assets.
The amount of draft capital that has been given up to acquire players who haven’t worked is inexcusable. Leonard Floyd, Mitch Trubisky, and Anthony Miller were all early-round prospects who are no longer with the team.
Other notable trade-ups are, of course, David Montgomery, Justin Fields, and Teven Jenkins. There’s nothing wrong with trading up in the draft to get your guy but there is something to be said about how careless Pace has been with his draft picks over the years.
One spot in particular that has not been managed well over the past few years is the offensive line. The Bears have stuck with the same guys for a number of years before making some changes this past year, to go into 2021.
Two veterans in Bobby Massie and Charles Leno were let go this offseason, with the expectation of playing Jenkins at LT as a rookie. It’s perfectly fine to move on from older guys but when Head Coach Matt Nagy says that they knew about Jenkins back issues before drafting him, that just makes no sense to me.
On top of this, the Chicago Bears just signed veteran lineman Jason Peters this week with Bears brass claiming this had nothing to do with Teven Jenkins. Anyone with half a brain knew immediately that they were lying and that was clearly the case.
By no means am I labeling Jenkins as a bust in this article, I hope he can make a full recovery and be a stalwart for the Bears’ offensive line moving forward. However, this process of trading away picks and cutting players who can be contributors has to be managed better.
Two of the biggest holes this team currently has are at the OT and CB positions. This past offseason not only were Leno and Massie let go but so was veteran CB Kyle Fuller, just to save $10 million dollars to use on Andy Dalton.
Next. Pace picks on the verge of getting cut. dark
After signing Dalton, the team traded more picks to move up and select Justin Fields, which was a great move but there are too many assets being wasted on the QB position and that’s not even including Nick Foles who is on the team. Ask yourself, would you rather have Leno and Fuller? Or Dalton and Jimmy Graham? Because that’s what we’re left with at the moment.