A SAFE PACE: GM TAKES THE SMITH
Georgia linebacker is solid choice for Bears after three quarterbacks go in top seven picks
When Bears general manager Ryan Pace said there was a “cloud’’ of eight prospects he liked for the eighth pick overall in the NFL Draft, did you worry it had blown in from a Colorado weed bar?
Pace’s wobbly first- round performance had gone from unfortunate ( Kevin White) to intriguing/ incomplete ( Leonard Floyd) to somewhere between incredibly inspired and I’ll have whatever Ryan’s smoking ( Mitch Trubisky). Where would his next pick fall in that joyride of a record?
Wonderfully, safely, smack dab in the middle.
Pace used the eighth pick Thursday night on Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith, who has enough speed and smarts to play any down in coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense. If Floyd can stay healthy, the Bears have a shot at improving on a group that finished 10th overall in the NFL.
This was a safe pick, but don’t mistake it for being an uninspired pick. The risk was taken out of the Bears’ hands by a bunch of teams that craved quarterbacks. It meant that lots of talent was available when it was time for the Bears to choose.
Three quarterbacks went in the first seven picks, but so did defensive end Bradley Chubb ( Denver) and guard Quenton Nelson ( Indianapolis), two players they coveted.
No problem. Here came Smith, who was considered the top inside linebacker in the draft. He was fast enough to play wide receiver in high school. No, Dick Butkus didn’t play wideout at Chicago Vocational High School, but what was that, 100 years ago? The more speed, the better. He’s a “sudden, twitchy’’ player, Pace said. Maybe he can catch some passes from Trubisky.
“I feel like I’m a rangy guy, sideline to sideline,’’ Smith said. “I can put my facemask on you. I feel like I can do a lot of things. . . . My IQ, knowledge of the game, I feel like it’s on a different level.’’
His enthusiasm is contagious, meaning that Bears fans will change their 2018 predictions from 13- 3 to 14- 2 after listening to him.
“I’m beyond excited,’’ Smith said. “I can’t put into words how excited I am about this opportunity to be a Chicago Bear. It’s insane. I’m ready to give the city of Chicago everything I have in me.’’
What a crapshoot the draft is. Nobody really knows anything. Go ahead and get excited as hell about this pick. You should. Have hope. But might I suggest stirring in a teaspoon of reality into your 24- Hour Energy Shot?
Smith is a sure thing? Impossible to say. A generational pick? I have no earthly idea. Nor does anyone else.
Let’s go back five years. Of the 32 firstround picks in the 2013 draft, 11 players have made at least one Pro Bowl. Of the top 12 picks, only two have made a Pro Bowl. Pro Bowls obviously aren’t the best gauge of success, but the point is that many times, what some of the smartest people in football thought they knew for sure, they didn’t.
But Pace said he got the man he wanted. The only surprise is that he didn’t tell the