Get used to it, Bears fans. The narrative around Chicago during preparation for the 2021 NFL draft will focus on the quarterback, and for good reason.
The expected departure of Mitch Trubisky and the failure to change Nick Foles has QB as the main need of the team, and with some passers-by worthy of the first round in this year’s class, it is logical to connect the Bears to at least one of them.
Here’s the problem: Chicago chooses 20th overall, which generally means that they will be out of the strike zone for any of the top names this year. Or are they going?
According to The Draft Network’s last simulated draft of 2021, the Bears made an aggressive switch to eighth overall to acquire North Dakota’s Trey Lance.
The mock author, Ben Solak, has GM Ryan Pace leaving with the 20th choice this year and a first and third round choice in 2022 to switch places with the Panthers by Lance, the ingenious, but raw, FCS flag.
You can’t win without a quarterback, and the Bears currently don’t have one. Then Pace makes another mortgage against his future choices, this time going up in the first round to grab his quarterback: Trey Lance. Lance is an uncertain bet because he has only one year of initial experience, and it was at the FCS level – but don’t confuse that with being a “gross” prospect. Lance makes mature decisions and is impressively risk-averse for a young player – 0 interceptions don’t happen by accident! It will be good for the Bears, although the status of their OL and WR room is under discussion.
This is a big leap of faith for Lance, who has only one season of experience as a starter at a lower level of college ball. Sure, Lance has all the features necessary for a first-round choice, but he also yells at the type of client that will get a general manager fired in a year or two.
Buyer, be careful with Lance, and considering the warm chair Pace and coach Matt Nagy are in, I imagine they will look elsewhere for their quarterback.
In the second round, Solak sends Bears Lance teammate in the offensive attack Dillon Radunz. This is a team that would qualify as a home run on my scale, considering that I believe Radunz has borderline ability in the first round. The only thing that keeps him from getting an infallible grade in the first round is the level of competition he faced in North Dakota.
Radunz will participate in the 2021 Senior Bowl, where he will have the opportunity to show his skills against the main competitors. If he stays in Mobile, Alabama, he will raise his stock to the first round range.
The Bears need help along the offensive line and can especially use an upgrade in the tackle, where the best days of Charles Leno Jr. and Bobby Massie can be left behind.
Enter Radunz, who would be an immediate upgrade in athletics in the position and would probably gain an early role early in his career at Bears, if that choice were to materialize.