Ryan Pace Slayed Another Draft and Other Bullets

April 28, 2019, by Luis Medina Chicago Bears

One of my favorite breakfast treats to make is French toast and fried chicken, but I have been doing everything in my power to limit the amount of fried foods I eat over the last few months. So today, I made the French toast with oven-baked chicken … and it was as delicious as if I would have fried it. What an encouraging development on a Sunday.

Here it is in its full-blown glory, the Chicago Bears’ 2019 NFL Draft class:

Sorry, here's how the #Bears view their 2019 draft.
1st: Khalil Mack
2nd: Anthony Miller
No. 73: RB David Montgomery, Iowa State
No. 126: WR Riley Ridley, Georgia
No. 205: CB Duke Shelley, Kansas State
No. 222: RB Kerrith Whyte Jr., FAU
No. 238: CB Stephen Denmark, Valdosta St.

— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) April 27, 2019

All-Pro pass-rusher. Starting wide receiver who led the team in receiving scores. Three playmakers for an offense that can’t have enough of them for Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky. Two defensive backs in a division where Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, and Matthew Stafford are planning to throw the rock until the cows come home. At first blush, it looks like Bears GM Ryan Pace put together another solid draft class.
Day 3 sent the Bears a best-player-available type (Georgia receiver Riley Ridley), two speedsters in the secondary (Kansas State’s Duke Shelley, Valdosta State’s Stephen Denmark), and a blazing running back/return specialist (Kerrith Whyte Jr.). All things being equal, this class features players with characteristics you would want your favorite team to identify, draft, and develop. We’ll get into the newest group of Bears later once we dive into the undrafted free agents Chicago scooped up.
While the Bears were all business on Saturday, the Cardinals lightened the mood:

Hakeem Butler drafted by the Cardinals with the first pick in the fourth round. pic.twitter.com/QXoQ0wcRE4

— CycloneFanatic.com (@cyclonefanatic) April 27, 2019

I understand concern related to the Bears giving up future draft assets in order to move up and take Iowa State running back David Montgomery in Round 3. Allow me to ease those concerns. For starters, Chicago still ended up with five picks in the 2019 draft. Had they come away with four or fewer, it would have been a cause for concern. Because even though the team doesn’t have a ton of needs, the later portions of the draft represents the best place to find depth that could bolster the back-end of the roster. That aspect of draft weekend shouldn’t be overlooked. But the Bears were able to snatch a sixth-round pick they didn’t have previously in the Patriots deal, which allowed them to take Kansas State cornerback Duke Shelley. Thanks for helping out, Pats!
As for giving up a fourth-rounder in 2020, remember that the Bears are in line to collect a compensatory pick in that draft. It’s likely that selection will come in the fourth round, so losing the one heading to New England isn’t as problematic as it looked at first blush.
And if it comes to it, the Bears could trade down with one (or even both!) second-round picks they have next year. Then again, based on Pace’s history, we can’t rule out the possibility of using those picks to move into the first round. But it’s waaaaaaaaaaay too early to think about that possibility. Still fun, though.
Speaking of fun, that is the one word that rattles around my head when thinking about this draft class as a whole.
Montgomery is a play-making running back with enough wiggle to make guys miss to go along with the power to plow through arm-tacklers. Whyte has ludicrous speed and was so productive in spurts at Florida Atlantic, Lane Kiffin couldn’t keep him off the field despite having Devin Singletary (a third-round running back who was given a bulk of the carries). Shelley is an undersized corner who held his own in the Big 12 and earned the 6th best grade among college corners, per Pro Football Focus. And then there is Denmark, who towers over receivers while standing 6-foot-3. No one knows how this group will ultimately pan out, but it will be fun to see how each of these guys fits in the grand scheme of things.
Of course the former offensive lineman likes the smashmouth running back:

.@ChicagoBears' radio analyst Tom Thayer is a big fan of the #Bears drafting David Montgomery: pic.twitter.com/Ubd9lVolof

— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) April 27, 2019

Have fun with that Cheesedoodles:

David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen in the same backfield? Good luck tackling, NFC North

— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) April 27, 2019

Optimism is rising:

I'll be surprised if David Montgomery doesn't become a 1000-yard back for the Bears in the next year or two… I'll be even more surprised if the Bears organization and fan base doesn't love the kind of person he is: https://t.co/pB8mTFxGrV

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) April 27, 2019

Culture change alert: The Bears have cool coaches now.

Riley Ridley’s impression of Bears wide receivers coach Mike Furrey during a visit to Halas Hall? "I sat down with him and I realized this is one of the coolest coaches I’ve ever met in my life, at this level of football."

— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) April 27, 2019

Leonard Floyd *LOVES* the Riley Ridley pick:

https://twitter.com/Leonard90Flo/status/1122188554464002048

The only person who might like it more is Daniel Jeremiah:

https://twitter.com/BN_Bears/status/1122188242835603460

Some next-level stuff from Raiders GM Mike Mayock, who pulled a fast one on his former NFL Network colleagues:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1122253372185178112

To say Josh Rosen wasn’t given a fair chance to become the Cardinals’ franchise quarterback is putting it lightly. But Rosen handled his departure better than I would have:

Thank you @AZCardinals

Hello @MiamiDolphins pic.twitter.com/yNb81On0dD

— Josh Rosen (@josh3rosen) April 27, 2019

Best tweet of the weekend:

All 3 have incredible tape https://t.co/i38eFAdBiU

— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) April 27, 2019

It was at 9:15 p.m. CT when I absolutely knew the Nuggets were going to beat the Spurs last night in Game 7:

Broncos coach Vic Fangio, a smart man, here for Game 7. With his son visiting from out of town. Nuggets 10-2 early.

— Paul Klee (@bypaulklee) April 28, 2019

Good things happen to the sports teams in your city when Vic Fangio comes to town. The Giants won multiple World Series titles while Fangio was in San Francisco as the 49ers’ DC. And we all know what the Cubs did in 2016 (as well as the remarkable years they had in 2015 and 2017) while Fangio was running the Bears defense. Congrats to the Nuggets (and probably Rockies, soon enough) to the fun times in their near future.
This isn’t football-related, but I still laughed: