5 things we learned in Pace's pre-draft presser

[Staley Da Bear]

(3) Preparing for this year's draft has been more difficult than any other due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Evaluating top pro prospects has been incredibly challenging for the Bears and the other 31 NFL teams. Many college players opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID, and several teams played a limited number of games. In addition, scouts were not allowed on campus during the season, the Combine was canceled and NFL teams were not permitted to meet with prospects at their facilities or anywhere else to conduct interviews or private workouts.


"Every team in the NFL had a lot of challenges this year as we navigated through a much different college season, a much different draft process as we prepared for this draft," Pace said. "You've got to get creative, you've got to get opportunistic in different ways we gather information. And that preparation for us is a testament to a lot of people, from our scouts to our coaches to our medical staff. I can go on and on. George [McCaskey] and Ted [Phillips] providing the resources and the understanding of the different times that we're operating in. But we're ready for this week. We're excited to make our team better this week."


For players who opted out, the Bears have had to study their tape from the 2019 season.


"You're looking at that and you're watching them a year removed," Pace said, "and now you're putting weight on the pro days and how do they look at the pro day? Has their body changed? Have they maintained? Have they improved? All the different fluctuations that can take place.


"No Combine. Only three people [per team] allowed per pro day. Not able to take those players out to dinner before or after the pro day. It's challenges throughout. We had our medical meetings last week and some of that's been a challenge.


"That's just where we lean on the continuity of our staff and the experience and getting creative on how we access some of that data and obtain some of that data. We lean on a lot of our resources. I'm not going to lie, it has been challenging. But part of that's the excitement of the job and we've taken that on and I feel like we're in a really good spot."


(4) Pace said that Nagy has been actively involved in scouting not only the quarterbacks but every other position in the draft as well.


"It's been really valuable," Pace said. "Really for Matt, what's been cool about it is he loves the scouting process so much. Some coaches are more into it than others. So it's offense, it's defense. Matt's involved in every single position we're talking about."


Pace revealed that Nagy was instrumental in the Bears selecting cornerback Jaylon Johnson with the 50th pick in the second round of last year's draft. Johnson started 13 games as a rookie and tied for ninth in the NFL with 15 pass breakups despite missing the final three contests with a shoulder injury.


"I remember last year, as we went through the corners and just [Nagy's] passion as we went through that evaluation process and Jaylon Johnson and what it led us to," Pace said.


"But what's cool about with Matt and with Lazor and with Flip, there's certain positions [where] I think it is valuable if you've played that position, and I think quarterback is one of those. And all three of those guys have played the position at different levels, and I think it comes into play as we're talking about that position and just the different perspective they have on it and the different angle they have on it as we have our draft meetings."


(5) After participating in the first virtual draft in NFL history last year from his basement, Pace is ecstatic about being back at Halas Hall this year.


"It's awesome to be back in Halas Hall," he said. "We will be in our draft room taking advantage of all the technology that we have in there. We'll have 10 people in our draft room this year. We'll be spaced out, we'll be wearing our masks, we'll be doing all the right things. And then we'll have our scouting staff, our coaching staff here at Halas Hall during the three days of the draft, in close proximity.


"Some of us are vaccinated, some of us aren't. So we're just kind of working through that. We've just got to be smart and cautious and careful as we go through it. But we'll have 10 people in the draft room all spaced out and we'll have our coaches and scouts here throughout the building so we can talk to them as needed as we go through the draft process."