The Bears have been widely praised for the improvements they've made this offseason, first in free agency and now in the draft. But general manager Ryan Pace isn't going to break his arm patting himself on the back.
"I know we were aggressive," Pace said Saturday night after the draft concluded. "We knew we were going to be. But I don't feel like we're ever there. There are still things we want to accomplish. There are still pieces we want to add, and we'll continue to do that. It's been a busy three, four months. But we're never going to be satisfied."
Since the end of last season, Pace has: 1) Hired an energetic young offensive-minded head coach in Matt Nagy; 2) Signed 10 free agents from other teams, including receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel and tight end Trey Burton; and 3) Selected a draft class highlighted by three potential impact players in inside linebacker Roquan Smith, guard James Daniels and receiver Anthony Miller.
Several media outlets from across the country have lauded Pace for the moves and described the Bears as a team on the rise heading into the 2018 season.
"I feel so good right now," Pace said. "The whole building's energized. There's just such a positive vibe around here and it really originates from Matt and it's infectious through the whole building. It's continued with all the coaches that we've added. It's continued into free agency. It's continued through the draft and now it's happening right now in college free agency. It's just such an exciting time to be part of this organization."
As Pace continues to build the roster, he'll keep looking for unselfish players who are committed to the team and would rather play in the Super Bowl than the Pro Bowl.
"One common denominator that Matt and I have stressed is just the high character and football intelligence," Pace said. "A lot of the guys we've added are younger guys, even in free agency, that still have upside ahead of them.
"And the one thing that's been really great is just the collaboration between the scouts and the coaches on the vision of what we're looking for—endless conversations with Matt and the coordinators and position coaches so we can be on the same page with the players we add because that just increases the chances of success."
Nagy is thrilled with the additions in free agency and the draft and knows that it's now the coaching staff's responsibility to take the baton from the personnel department.
"The general consensus is that we did improve," Nagy said. "Now what you need to do is you need to do it on the field. It's one thing to get guys on paper. [But] it's our job now as coaches to take the handoff and develop these guys and teach them how to play the game within our system and within this building and how we're going to do things."
With the Bears adding seven players in the draft and expected to sign several undrafted free agents, the circles on the white floor-to-ceiling dry-erase board in Nagy's office is being filled with names.
"When Ryan and I first got together and we started formulating a plan of how we wanted to go about this," Nagy said, "we mentioned about adding pieces offensively and that's what we've done, and now it's up to us as coaches to make it happen and it's up to the players when we get on the field to make it happen. There's a lot ahead of us, but that's the challenging part."
