Get used to this, Bears fans. The Chicago story leading up to the 2021 NFL draft will focus on quarterback, and with good reason.
Mitch Trubisky’s anticipated departure and botched exchange for Nick Foles has QB as the team’s greatest need, and with a few first-round worthy passers in this year’s class, it makes sense to have the Bears with at least one of to connect them.
Here’s the problem: Chicago picks 20th overall, which usually means they’ll be out of the attack zone for one of this year’s top names. Or will they?
According to The Draft Network’s latest 2021 mock draft, the Bears are acting aggressively towards No. 8 to take over North Dakota’s Trey Lance.
The author of the mock, Ben Solak, has GM Ryan Pace bid farewell to the 20th pick this year and a first and third round pick in 2022 to swap places with the Panthers for Lance, the nifty yet raw FCS signal caller.
You can’t win without a quarterback, and the Bears don’t currently have one. So Pace takes out a new mortgage against their future picks, this time up in the first round to take down their quarterback: Trey Lance. Lance is an uncertain bet because he only has one year of starting experience, and it was at FCS level – but don’t confuse that with being a “raw” prospect. Lance makes mature decisions and is impressively risk averse to a young player – 0 interceptions don’t happen by accident! He’ll be good for the Bears, though the status of their OL and WR room are both up for debate.
This is quite a leap of faith with Lance, who has only one season of starting experience at a lower level of college ball. Sure, Lance has all the qualities needed for a first round, but he’s also screaming about the kind of prospect who will get a general manager fired in a year or two.
Copper beware of Lance, and given the burning chair that both Pace and Coach Matt Nagy are sitting on, I’d imagine they’ll look elsewhere for their quarterback fix.
In Round 2, Solak sends the Bears Lance’s teammate on the attack, Dillon Radunz. This is a selection that qualifies as a home run on my scale, as I believe Radunz has a groundbreaking first round. The only thing that keeps him from making a foolproof first round is the level of competition he faced in the state of North Dakota.
Radunz will participate in the 2021 Senior Bowl, where he will have the opportunity to showcase his skills against the top league. If he holds out in Mobile, Alabama, he will increase his share to that first round.
The Bears need help along the line of attack and can especially use an upgrade in tackle, where both Charles Leno Jr. when Bobby Massie’s best days are over.
Join Radunz, who would be an immediate upgrade in athletics to the position and likely earn a starting role early in his Bears career should this pick come true.