April 27--The Chicago Bears have their board set. It's time now to go to work.
With the NFL draft just a day away, the Bears are eager to dive into the three-day event with an eye on significantly improving their roster. And general manager Ryan Pace feels strongly that he and his staff are ready for the challenge.
On Wednesday morning at Halas Hall, Pace held his annual predraft news conference. And while the 39-year-old GM carefully steered around revealing the Bears' biggest draft secrets and strategies, he did offer some insight into what's ahead.
The Bears own the No. 11 pick Thursday night plus eight more selections for this draft. Pace said the team has more than 11 players they'd be excited about choosing with their top pick. He also reiterated that the team will heavily lean toward choosing the best player available in every round rather than pushing to fill a specific need.
Here are the most notable highlights from Wednesday's back-and-forth with Pace in Lake Forest.
On how the Bears operate when a position is significantly deep in the draft, weighing the luxury of waiting to draft from that position versus the benefit of grabbing from the top of the class:
"We've talked about it but I think if there's a player that's special enough -- even if it is a deep position -- if he's special enough and he's an impact player, we'll go ahead and pull the trigger on him. ... I just think if you have conviction on a player, and that's how our grades come out, you take the best player available. You've got to have convictions on our grades and where we've come (to). I think you can overthink a little bit if you get too caught up in that."
On where the team is defensively a year after converting from a 4-3 base defense to a 3-4:
"It takes some time to tweak the roster to fit that scheme. But I think one thing John (Fox) and Vic (Fangio) have both stressed is, hey, we're a 3-4 base but we're in sub (packages) 60 percent of the time now. So when that's happening ... a lot of times it's a four-man front. So some of these guys, I think, who you might want to write off as, hey, these are 4-3 three-technique (defensive tackles), well they can fit in sub packages in certain situations if they're good pass rushers."
On when the Bears might prioritize roster needs and take a player with a slightly lower grade than another still available on their board:
"If it's really close, man, then we'll talk it out. If it's really close. But what we've just got to be careful on, and I've said this before, is I think (prioritizing need) doesn't happen during the draft. It happens the month leading into the draft or two months. You start saying, 'Hey we really need this position, and as you're discussing it with our scouts and coaches and we're putting final grades on guys, you're naturally, wrongfully pulling those guys (at a position of need) up too high. But I think at this point, if we've stacked our board correctly and they're all really close, then I think you lean toward the need at that time."
On whether he feels fully prepared for this draft:
On where the Bears are in their final preparations for the draft:
"The last two days have been kind of us sitting in the office and going over all the different scenarios, which is always entertaining. Somebody'll throw a curveball in there and you kind of give him a hard time."
On whether the Bears will consider trading back from No. 11 if calls come their way:
"If it falls out a certain way, we have enough names where we feel comfortable if we had to go back, we could still go back and get a good player."
On this year's quarterback class:
"It really is a good class of quarterbacks. And they're all unique. I think some guys are going to have different perspectives of different flavors. But it's a good class. It breaks after a certain point. And then there are some middle-round guys who are intriguing for different reasons. It's just up to us to analyze that and rank that correctly, and I think we have."
dwiederer@tribpub.com
