The Chicago Bears draft picks situation is starting to get dicey. What does that mean? Let’s put it this way. Ryan Pace is beginning to flirt with a philosophy that likely led to Jerry Angelo and Phil Emery getting fired in a three-year span. Sure simply picking bad players can explain what went wrong for them, but there was a certain methodology that contributed to the problem.
They often found themselves with less-than-normal amount of picks. For those who aren’t already aware, the NFL shifted the draft to having seven rounds in 1993. Every team is allotted one pick per round with an additional 32 compensatory picks handed out based on quality of players lost to free agency without a return.
Suffice to say most teams end up with at least seven picks. However, an ability to trade can often lead to more or fewer than that. The Bears have found themselves on both sides of that equation over the past two decades but recently on the shorter end. If one were to pay close attention, it may be part of why they’ve had such problems.
Chicago Bears draft picks coffers have been sparse recently
Since 1993 the Bears have ended a draft having made fewer than seven picks a total of eight times. All told it was a total of 48 picks. In all of that they managed to land two Pro Bowl players. Not only that, they also managed to corral some of their biggest all-time draft busts.
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1994 (6 picks) – 0 Pro Bowlers
- Best pick: Jim Flanigan
- Worst pick: Marcus Spears
2001 (6 picks) – 0 Pro Bowlers
- Best pick: Anthony Thomas
- Worst pick: David Terrell
2005 (6 picks) – 0 Pro Bowlers
- Best pick: Kyle Orton
- Worst pick: Cedric Benson
2010 (5 picks) – 0 Pro Bowlers
- Best pick: Corey Wootton
- Worst pick: Major Wright
2011 (5 picks) – 0 Pro Bowlers
- Best pick: Stephen Paea
- Worst pick: Gabe Carimi
2012 (6 picks) – 1 Pro Bowler
- Best pick: Alshon Jeffery
- Worst pick: Brandon Hardin
2013 (6 picks) – 1 Pro Bowler
- Best pick: Kyle Long
- Worst pick: Jonathan Bostic
2015 (6 picks) – 0 Pro Bowlers
- Best pick: Eddie Goldman
- Worst pick: Kevin White
Two Pro Bowlers in 48 picks and one of them isn’t even on the team anymore. Meanwhile they’ve had at least eight or more picks in a draft 13 times since the advent of the seven-round system. Those drafts produced players like Olin Kreutz, Brian Urlacher, Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris, Greg Olsen, Matt Forte and Jordan Howard.
Why bring all of this up? Pace is set to enter his third draft in four years with less than seven picks available to him. For a man who says he wants to build his team through the draft, he’s certainly not giving himself a lot of wiggle room. His 2015 class was already a bust for the most part. The 2017 class looks solid but it’s still early.
Pace is going into another offseason with more questions than answers. How can he hope to fill every roster void when he’s not finding ways to create some flexibility. By contrast Rick Spielman of the Vikings has run the show in Minnesota since 2012. In that span he’s never had fewer than eight picks in a draft. People shouldn’t be wondering why his roster is as good as it’s become.
Pace doesn’t believe in moving down early when he can get a good player by staying high. That’s admirable and also a little misguided. It might be time for him to change up his thought process.
