Staley Da Bear
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Pulling off the trade
Pace told reporters that he entered the first round with three different plans.
"The first plan was, 'Hey, is there going to be an opportunity to go up and get a quarterback? Let's see if we can make that happen,'" Pace said. "If that doesn't happen, we had another one for some movement maybe for some other positions that would be valuable positions for us that would also hit some needs and match our board. And then the third one was to stay put, and luckily, plan one executed."
The Bears spent Thursday morning and afternoon laying the groundwork for a potential trade up, speaking to several teams who were slated to pick before and after the Giants at No. 11.
"We knew there was going to be a sweet spot for us to be in that quarterback world, and right in this area was kind of it," Pace said. "It just required a little bit of patience to get to that point, and kind of what's fair for us and what's fair for the other club. You have to be realistic to do these trades, and I thought this one was very fair.
"It kind of played out that way. We started making a lot of those phone calls this morning with those teams in that area and just trying to find out what was a reality, and this one was. So it worked out. But we were making phone calls all along there, that whole area, all in that range."
Quarterbacks were selected with the first three picks in the draft for just the third time in the Super Bowl era. The Jaguars chose Clemson's Trevor Lawrence No. 1, the Jets followed by taking BYU's Zach Wilson No. 2 and the 49ers selected North Dakota State's Trey Lance No. 3.
When Fields remained on the board at No. 11, the Bears were happy to deal first- and fifth-round picks this year and first- and fourth-round selections next year to the Giants.
"The way the board was falling, we got excited when the quarterbacks came off that way and Justin continued to fall," Pace said. "For us, it was just executing our plan at the right spot in the draft and being patient with that, which sometimes can be difficult.
"Fortunately, with the Giants, I've known Dave Gettleman for 20 years. He's an amazing person and amazing general manager and we go way back, so that communication started really this morning about something like that happening, and when we were able to execute it in the draft, I just feel real fortunate."