All eyes will be on the Chicago Bears’ quarterback competition between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles during training camp. But perhaps they won’t be the only quarterbacks being discussed in Chicago.
General manager Ryan Pace told reporters during his pre-draft conference call that he wouldn’t rule out drafting a quarterback in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
#Bears GM Ryan Pace says he's going to always take the best player available, so if a quarterback is sitting there, he'd consider it.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) April 21, 2020
As Pace sees it, he’s always looking to take the best player available. And if by chance the best player sitting there at pick 43 or 50 happens to be a quarterback, he’d certainly consider taking him.
Pace has lived by best-player-available mentality, as he should. But there a plethora of needs for this roster heading into the NFL Draft, among them cornerback, safety, offensive line and tight end. That’s also not to rule out wide receiver, running back, pass rusher, and yes, quarterback.
But when looking at the quarterbacks in this year’s draft class, there’s an expectation that some of these quarterbacks are going to go higher than many believe.
Guys like LSU’s Joe Burrow, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert will be long gone before the second round rolls around. But there are some other prospects — among them Georgia’s Jake Fromm and Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts — that could fall to Chicago in the second round.
Then it becomes a matter of, are they the best player available on Pace’s board? Or what about other top prospects at defensive back, offensive line, receiver, etc.?
Ultimately, no one knows what Pace is going to do with his pair of second-rounders, although it’s been reported that the Bears could be looking to trade one — or both — of those second-round picks.
While it’s not likely that a top quarterback prospect falls to the Bears in the second round, that doesn’t mean Pace should ignore the quarterback position. Pace should look at drafting a developmental prospect in the later rounds, where guys like Washington State’s Anthony Gordon, Florida International’s James Morgan and Hawaii’s Cole McDonald should still be available.
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