Former Chicago Bears' GM rapidly ascending front office ranks once again

In recent days, the Atlanta Falcons got the best of the Chicago Bears with their pursuit of disgruntled New England Patriots pass rusher Matthew Judon.

While the Bears offered a third-round pick of their own to the Patriots for Judon, the Pro Bowl pass rusher was given the option to decide between heading to the Falcons or Chicago. Judon chose to be traded to the Falcons, where he may have a better chance at landing the new contract that he was seeking while with the Patriots.

The addition of Judon adds to an offseason where the Falcons have revamped their roster. The additions of Judon, veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins, and wide receiver Darnell Mooney along with Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson already on the roster has given the sense that the Falcons could be a dark horse in the NFC this season.

The man behind many of these moves for the Falcons has been former Bears' general manager Ryan Pace. Despite Pace being part of the reason why the Falcons were found to have tampered with Cousins before he officially became a free agent, the former general manager was promoted by Atlanta on Monday.

Ryan Pace seems to be vying for another general manager gig.

For all that Pace has done right, there have been shades of him making the same mistakes that he did while with the Bears. Notably, after signing Cousins, the Falcons opted to use their eighth overall selection of the 2024 NFL Draft to select quarterback Michael Penix Jr. It's a more expensive version of when Pace drafted Justin Fields in 2021 after previously signing Andy Dalton.

If we are being honest, for all the retrospective critiques that have been made of Pace's tenure with the Bears, the biggest downfall was that he never got the quarterback position right, and that is why the end was miserable. Pace was aggressive with how he attacked the needs that the Bears had at the time, and if he hit on one of Mitch Trubisky or Justin Fields, his tenure would have looked much different, if not still going. One thing is clear, after his latest promotion, Pace will likely be a general manager candidate during next offseason's hiring cycle.