Ryan Pace’s Moves in Free Agency Have Given the Chicago Bears Draft Flexibility
Published by Matt Eurich on March 19, 2015
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace wasted little time addressing some of his team’s biggest needs at the start of free agency last week.
The Bears are making the switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense in 2015, and Pace signed outside linebacker Pernell McPhee and safety Antrel Rolle to help anchor Chicago’s new defense. With Brandon Marshall no longer on the team following a trade to the New York Jets, Pace also signed slot receiver Eddie Royal to play alongside budding superstar Alshon Jeffery.
While Pace’s moves in free agency do not guarantee the Bears a winning season in 2015, the team now has more flexibility when the NFL draft comes around in late April.
At his introductory press conference in January, Pace made it clear that building through the draft is how teams win championships.
“The recipe to winning Super Bowls is stringing successful drafts together again and again,” Pace said, via the Chicago Tribune. “We are not just collecting athletes. We are acquiring football players that fit the Chicago Bears.”
Before signing McPhee last week, the Bears appeared to be a lock to take one of this year’s premier edge-rushers with the seventh overall pick in the draft, but they currently have the flexibility to look at a variety of different positions.
Now that the Bears have a new edge-rusher, safety and wide receiver on the roster, how will Pace approach the draft?
Add Another Pass-Rusher
The Bears hired Ernie Accorsi this offseason to help the organization find a new general manager and head coach, and he once explained how important it is for an organization to continually add pass-rushers.
“It’s my philosophy that an organization can never have enough pass-rushers,” Accorsi said back in 2006, according to John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant. “Like home run hitters and pitchers, you can never have enough of them. If you put pressure on the passer, everything else gets easier.”
Accorsi was only with the Bears for a brief time as a consultant, but he helped the organization find Pace, and it is possible the two share the same philosophy.
As of right now, the Bears currently have about eight players on the roster who could potentially play outside linebacker in a 3-4, and that includes Shea McClellin, Jared Allen, Willie Young and Lamarr Houston, according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune:
Even with those four guys—as well as McPhee—on the roster, Pace and the Bears could still take a look at the position in the draft.
When the seventh overall pick comes around on April 30, the Bears could have the opportunity to draft Florida’s Dante Fowler, Nebraska’s Randy Gregory, Clemson’s Vic Beasley or Missouri’s Shane Ray.
At the NFL combine back in February, Pace described what he looks for in a 3-4 outside linebacker.
“Pass rush is the first thing that comes to mind,” he said, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Edge speed. The ability to hit the quarterback. And then the ability to set the edge and get off a block.”
Fowler, Gregory, Beasley and Ray all have the ability to get after the quarterback, but with so many potential pass-rushers already on the team, Pace could decide to improve his offense with his first pick if he feels good about the pass-rushers already on the roster.
Find Brandon Marshall’s Replacement
Even though Marshall was dominant at times as a member of the Bears, Pace and the organization decided it was in the team’s best interest to part ways with the five-time Pro Bowl receiver.
“He’s a good football player,” Pace said about Marshall last week, via Finley. “And, going forward, we felt this was the best for us, and quite frankly, it’s the best situation for him, too. So that’s where we’re at.”
In three seasons in Chicago, Marshall hauled in 279 catches for 3,524 yards and 31 touchdowns, but the Bears officially traded him and a seventh-round pick to the New York Jets for a fifth-round pick on the first day of free agency, via ESPN’s Adam Schefter:
Signing Royal in free agency gives quarterback Jay Cutler a reliable slot receiver, but the team needs someone who can be paired up opposite of Jeffery on the outside.
In Matt Miller’s latest article for Bleacher Report, he pointed out that the wide receiver position is very much in play for the Bears with the seventh overall pick.
“The Chicago Bears have plenty of needs, and their aggressive approach to filling holes on defense in free agency has been interesting,” Miller wrote. “Also of interest from a team source: Don’t rule out a wide receiver at pick No. 7 overall as the team looks to replace Brandon Marshall.”
If the team opts to look at wide receiver with its first pick, Alabama’s Amari Cooper and West Virginia’s Kevin White could both be in play.
Cooper dominated the SEC last season, hauling in 124 catches for 1,727 yards with 16 touchdowns and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, while White caught 109 passes for 1,447 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Mountaineers.
In his latest mock draft, CBSSports.com’s Dane Brugler has the Bears taking White with the seventh overall pick.
“This pick has to be defense, right?” Brugler wrote. “After the Brandon Marshall trade, wide receiver is now a possibility and with White still on the board, it’s a match that makes sense.”
White has good size (6’3″, 215 lbs) and ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at the combine last month, according to NFL.com.
He does a nice job of going up and attacking the football at its highest point, but he also has the speed to beat cornerbacks off the line of scrimmage. One area he will need to work on at the next level is his technique. He often plays a bit sloppy out of his stance and will have to prove he can beat defenders with something other than just his speed.
While White relies on speed to get open, Cooper relies more on his technique.
Greg A. Bedard of The MMQB praised Cooper’s ability to run any route.
“Cooper can run the entire passing route tree at an NFL level,” Bedard wrote. “Be it a slant, comeback, curl, out, dig or post, Cooper is nearly at top speed from the start of his route and doesn’t power down to make cuts. That’s part of the reason he gets so open.”
White or Cooper would be a welcomed addition to the Bears offense—if that’s the direction Pace wants to go—but if the Bears are convinced they can find a replacement for Marshall later in the draft, Pace may decide to think outside the box with his first pick.
Think Outside the Box
While looking for another edge-rusher or a wide receiver makes sense for the Bears at No. 7, Pace could think outside the box and address other areas of need.
The team struggled to protect Cutler in the pocket last season, and Pace could try to improve the offensive line.
The Bears have a need at right tackle, and Iowa’s Brandon Scherff, Stanford’s Andrus Peat and LSU’s La’el Collins all have the ability to step in from day one and contribute.
Both Scherff and Collins project as right tackles, while Peat has the ability to play either left or right tackle. If Pace decides Peat is his guy, he could start his career on the right side and eventually transition over to left tackle once Jermon Bushrod moves on after his contract expires at the end of the 2017 season.
Drafting an offensive lineman in the first round likely will not go over well with fans, but if Pace believes it is the right move, he will need to pull the trigger.
If one of the offensive linemen do not appeal to Pace, he could look to add a safety who can play alongside Rolle in Chicago’s new defense.
The only safety in this year’s draft with the talent to be selected in the first round is Alabama’s Landon Collins. A pure strong safety, Collins registered 103 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions last season for the Crimson Tide.
He plays well up in the box versus the run, has good instincts and is not afraid to work through blockers to make a play. He can be a bit too aggressive at times and will need to improve in pass coverage at the next level.
Taking Collins with the No. 7 pick could be viewed as a bit of a stretch, but he would have a chance to blossom playing alongside Rolle in Vic Fangio’s 3-4 defense.
Whether Pace decides to add another pass-rusher, a wide receiver or decides to think outside the box with his first pick, his moves in free agency have given the Bears plenty of flexibility in this year’s draft.
Statistical information courtesy of NFL.com and Sports-Reference.com.
Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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