Brian Urlacher bleeds Chicago Bears football. So he’s just as crushed when the team loses or just as excited when they win as anybody else. He played for the organization his entire Hall of Fame career. This shouldn’t be a surprise. What has been a surprise is how vocal he’s been in his support for Bears GM Ryan Pace lately.
Urlacher seems to think the young exec has done a phenomenal job building the team up from the ruins of the Marc Trestman and Phill Emery era. Much of that enthusiasm surrounded their new young quarterback Mitch Trubisky. His talent and progression since last year already had the former defender thinking big.
However, the move that continues to baffle him in terms of the Bears’ extraordinary good fortune is the trade for Khalil Mack from Oakland. Urlacher understands football at most levels. He’s one of the smartest to ever play in Chicago after all. No matter how much he thinks about it, he still can’t wrap his head around how Pace pulled it off. He told Emily Kaplan of ESPN as much.
“Man, I don’t know how Pace pulled it off,” Urlacher said. “I don’t know what he did or if he knows something about Jon Gruden or someone in the Raiders organization or what he’s got. But two first-round picks for Mack? That’s nothing. When you look at the Bears’ first-round picks over the last 10, 15 years, and see how good they’ve turned out. I’m going to go ahead and say they haven’t been very good.”
Brian Urlacher has a point in regards to Khalil Mack trade cost
Is that a bit of an exaggeration. Well let’s look back. Below is a list of every 1st round pick the Bears have made in the past 15 years going back to 2003. It’s 14 picks in all. Those with an asterisk next to their name would go on to become a Pro Bowler.
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- Roquan Smith
- Mitchell Trubisky
- Leonard Floyd
- Kevin White
- Kyle Fuller
- Kyle Long*
- Shea McClellin
- Gabe Carimi
- Chris Williams
- Greg Olsen*
- Cedric Benson
- Tommie Harris*
- Michael Haynes
- Rex Grossman
Ask this question. Would you give up two of the names on that list for Mack? The obvious answer is yes. None of the players listed could be called Hall of Fame-worthy at this point. Olsen is the closest but injuries have begun to slow him lately and it doesn’t seem like he’ll be a top guy for much longer. The same goes for Long. So hypothetically would you give up Olsen and Long for Mack?
Even then it’s probably a fair deal.
As good as those two players were in their primes, neither impact the game to such an extent as Mack can. That’s what Urlacher is getting at. First round picks are overvalued. Since the year 2000, there have been 604 picks made that high. As things stand, 20 to 30 at most have either made the Hall of Fame or probably will be in the Hall of Fame one day.
That’s a 4.9% average at best. So if sacrificing two 1st rounders nets you one of those 30 in his prime, which Mack is, would you say it’s worth it? Yes, you probably would.
