Chicago Bears: Attempting A Ryan Pace Style Off-Season
By Erik Lambert
At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter what the experts think the Chicago Bears should do. It matters what Ryan Pace will do.
The 38-year old GM is going into his third off-season running the team. Thus far the results are mixed. Several of his acquisitions have begun to show lots of productivity on the field. At the same time the Bears went from 6-10 to 3-13. Not the direction people hoped or expected them to go. Injuries did play a part but that’s not a crutch Pace was willing to use. He’s determined to get things turned around in 2017.
It’s just a matter of figuring out how. Chicago has the resources to make things happen. They will have upwards of $58 million in salary cap space for free agency and hold the #3 overall pick in the NFL draft. If he applies those to maximum effectiveness, there is no question he can turn this young roster into a playoff contender.
Thus it’s time to ponder. If one were to put themselves in his shoes, with the knowledge of seeing him operate the past two seasons, how is the primary off-season likely to go? This will be an exploration of that, mocking both the free agency period and NFL draft using the methodology of Pace himself. Upon completion, it was fair to say the Bears would be a very different team taking the field next September.