Post Draft 2017

This was not a draft for the fans, this was Ryan Paces draft for the future that will give us nightmares at least until the season starts. I didn’t want a QB with the 3rd overall pick, I hated the idea, so when I see Pace trading up to get Mitchell Trubisky with the 2nd overall I just felt my stomach turn waiting to know what was given for the move, although I didn’t care to know at the same time because any pick lost to that was a punch in the nuts. I don’t hate Trubisky I consider him a good prospect but wasn’t my favorite, I  could say that I wouldn’t have cared if they had gotten him at mid to late round but the reality is that he wasn’t going to be there watching teams going up for Mahomes and Watson at 10 and 12. The night was ruined for many of us, it took me until the end of the first round when I stopped reading tweets about the pick because I feared for my health and started watching the interviews on youtube (doesn’t sound like it was a better idea as I write it). On came Paces press conference and the one thing that I heard that made me feel better was the part where he said (not quoting) he really wanted the guy and was going to do everything possible to get him because he believes in his talent, and then he said something I will quote, “I don’t want to be average around here, I want to be grate”. He really doesn’t have a choice but to convince everyone that this is the right choice, but at least he does say it convincingly. Like I said, I don’t think he could have gotten him later on the day so he did what he needed to do to get the guy he wanted, even if he gave a 3rd rounder for next year’s draft when it should have been a 4th, it just shows how much he wanted this QB although his "best player available" philosophy does not show in this draft at all, after this trade every other pick felt like a reach. Now the trade up was because, as the rumor goes, the 49ers told the Bears they were going to trade down with another team, I won’t go as far as to say the niners told them the team was drafting Trubisky, I believe that was the logical chain of thought for the Bears war room so they jumped to get their guy, so I don’t know if it’s a tool to make other teams react like that with rumors or false information but if it really is this is a business tactic well I would have to give kudos to the 49ers war room and shame to the Bears war room, but if this is cheap trickery then I give the middle finger to John Lynch.

   With nothing else to do but to swallow the reality that we will have less chances to strike a promising player, but the rest of the draft shows us something else. In the second round the Bears trade down to get back a 4th rounder and ad a 6th rounder we didn’t have and another 4th for next year in exage for the 2nd and 7th pick this year, weeeh! Right? Well, it didn’t last long for the happy rollercoaster to go swishing down.

With the 45th pick Pace gets Adam Shaheen, the big and athletic TE form a small school. This fell a bit like a reach only because there were some other players available in areas of bigger need. The reality is that this is a promising talent that if he pans out should contribute immensely and because we lacked a 3rd round pick there was a chance that he would not be there in the 4th round so it’s another pick for the future of the franchise. Fists, second and maybe even third round players are picked with the thought that they should contribute as starters on the year they were drafted, but in this case with the 2 picks that we finished having this year made this a draft for the future, the tools these two players have are top notch but they aren’t ready to play day 1 because they lack experience to play at their best and it’s hard to digest the idea that our two top picks are going to start on the bench and will have to wait for them to develop to what Pace thinks will be great players. So, charge up your patience pack because this could take a while.

   We go to day three of the draft and don’t have to wait too long because here comes Pace lunging forward 5 spots to get his man, giving up the 6th pick we got on the trade down. Picking with the 112 slot we get Eddie Jackson, YES! Although he is also considered a reach I don’t care, I like it, gives us a promising center fielding safety with good coverage and ball skills, a poor man’s Malik Hooker maybe and that’s fine by me because we are poor at this moment. So here comes the roller coaster back up again, seven picks later and I can’t really see the bottom anymore. With the 119 pick we get Tarik Cohen, WHO?! I see his stats and immediately think that pace misses Darren Sproles so he picks his mini me. A RB that destroyed his division with speed and agility maybe because nobody could bend that much to get him, but if he plays anything similar to Sproles I don’t care what he measures. Experts say this is a reach and I agree this time, Josh Reynolds went to the Rams two picks earlier and was my last best choice on offense and Desmond King was still there I would have preferred him or even a developing OT like Julie’n Davenport or Will Holden, but that wasn’t the case so let’s move on.

   With the final pick, the 147 on the 5th round we get a guard for some reason, Jordan Morgan from a small school. King and Holden were still there, but we got a guard who is promising but as I watch the result of this draft I see that Pace drafted players at positions that are already set, I could say that we just solidified the positions, not necessarily made them better which that is yet to be seen but there is depth now, there isn’t much to do in these areas but to wait and see who is the better player.

   I can see the CB position as already filled with promise but I can’t say the same on the other positions like the OTs, DL and WRs. Ryan Pace really put a target on his back with this draft and could now be in the hot seat with John Fox if this season turns to be a bad one. I really like Pace as GM and would give him time to see the development of his draft picks, but with some big contracts given to average players as some experts see and now with a questionable draft, they cant end with a top 5 pick next year because it would mean they gave up way to much for Trubisky, they would positioned themselves to have gotten a better prospect or even a starting QB next year as viewed by scouts and that would just show how poor Paces decisions on this draft were.