Bears GM, HC Give Big Hint About Draft Plans

Will Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace draft the second quarterback of his six-year tenure with the team? Since he joined the organization in 2015, Pace has selected just one quarterback in the NFL Draft, and that was Mitch Trubisky in 2017. Now, if the hints Pace and head coach Matt Nagy have recently dropped are any indication, snagging a young signal-caller could very well be the plan at month’s end.

When he was asked about whether having two veteran quarterbacks on the roster in Andy Dalton and Nick Foles meant he may be adding some young talent at the position, the Bears GM strongly suggested he might:

“We have a lot of experience in that room when you look at it now, when you combine Andy and Nick. That’s a lot of games in the NFL. It does bode well for a young quarterback in that room with the experience of those two guys and some of the accolades they have in our league,” Pace said.

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Nagy: ‘There’s a Lot of Good QBs in This Draft’

The Bears have been actively scouting quarterbacks this spring, sending personnel to the Pro Day performances of Alabama’s Mac Jones, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance and Stanford’s Davis Mills, among others. Scouting and evaluating young players at the position also seems to excite and intrigue the Bears head coach.

“There’s a lot of teams in this league right now that are always evaluating the quarterback position,” Nagy said. “Ryan and I are super-excited about going through that right now together, and how we do it. It’s a challenge but we look forward to it. There’s a lot of good quarterbacks in this draft.”

Nagy also acknowledged the difficulties of scouting young quarterbacks in the day and age of COVID-19. “We’ve been to a few pro days for these quarterbacks and other positions. It definitely helps. There’s only so many of those you can do and see with everything else going on. What’s fair is that every other team is doing the same thing,” Nagy added.

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Pace & Nagy Say They Have Learned From Previous Mistakes

When asked what he has learned about drafting and evaluating quarterbacks since he swung and missed with Mitch Trubisky in 2017, Pace noted that a new staff could make a big difference.

“The draft is not an exact science. We know that. There are so many variables involved in this,” Pace said. “There are so many things that happen when you draft a player, and you do learn from it. We’re a different staff now. I think we’re very connected with our coaches on what we’re looking for.”

For his part, Nagy noted that he feels as though he has learned a great deal over his first three seasons leading the team. “I know I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot in wanting to try to develop quarterbacks and how do you do that, where could I have been better, and try to get better and learn as a head coach in developing a quarterback.”

We’ll know soon enough how much both Pace and Nagy have learned, along with how well they apply that knowledge.

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