When it comes to the NFL draft, one man gets both the credit and the blame for the results. That is GM Ryan Pace. It comes with the job. Same as for the head coach. They’re in the big money positions, but also the heat positions. That said, more opinions go into the selection of a prospect than just the GM. One that so often gets undersold is that of the Chicago Bears area scouts.

This small group of men is tasked with covering an entire country, scouring every level of the collegiate scene looking for talent. They put in as much time and work as anybody but rarely get any of the credit. So maybe this is a good time with less than a week before the draft to put them in the spotlight.

Who are some players from their respective regions that they might push the Bears to draft?

Bears area scouts have their personal favorites too

Sam Summerville (Southeast) – Tyson Campbell, CB, Georgia

Every team’s most important area scout is always the one who holds the job of evaluating the southeast region of the country. That is where the highest concentration of football powerhouses reside like Alabama, LSU, Florida, and Georgia among several others. When it comes to Summerville, he has a strong connection to that last program as the Bears have drafted several players from there in recent years. Chief among them being Leonard Floyd and Roquan Smith.

It looks like Georgia is getting set to produce another array of gifted defensive talents to the NFL. One Summerville may urge a strong look at is Campbell. They have need for help at cornerback with Kyle Fuller gone. Campbell has the mixture of size, strength, and speed that they tend to prefer out of that position. He’s not afraid to play physical and has the sort of natural confidence that can make him an NFL starter for a long time.

Scott Hamel (Midwest) – Trey Lance, QB, North Dakota State

Hamel took over the Midwest region a few years ago and his influence has met with a number of successes for the Bears. Among some notable names he helped unearth were Jordan Howard (Indiana), James Daniels (Iowa), and David Montgomery (Iowa State). It seems he has a preference for guys who might seem soft-spoken but are naturally confident and aggressive on the football field.

If anybody in that war room is going to push for Lance, it will be him. The NDSU product is a divisive figure to be sure. While boasting good size, great athleticism, and a strong arm? Lance has just 318 passing attempts in college. All of them against FCS competition. Evaluators fear his inexperience but at the same time laud his intelligence and quiet confidence. Nobody works harder than him. Such things often appeal to scouts.

Breck Ackley (Plains/Mountain) – Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State

Forgive the vagueness of his location. It was difficult to surmise where exactly Ackley focuses since the Bears area scouts aren’t specified by region on the team website. After some research the best I could figure was he seemed to cover a lot of ground in the northern and southern plains states as well as the mountain areas. So guys like Cody Whitehair, Duke Shelley, and Trevis Gipson had his influence on them.

It would be a major shock if Ackley isn’t making the Bears brass well-aware of Tylan Wallace. The kid isn’t the biggest on the field but he plays like it. Just fearless and highly competitive. He runs sharp routes already and has better speed than he gets credit for. His strong hands, timing, and instincts allow him to routinely make plays. He won’t go in the 1st round, but everything about him suggests he’ll be a receiver who outplays his lower draft position.

John Syty (Northeast) – Isaiah McDuffie, LB, Boston College

Pace gets a lot of the credit for the later round successes the Bears have had since he arrived in 2015. While that is fair, he owes a lot of that to the presence of Syty. Several of those big finds have come from his northeastern region including Adrian Amos (Penn State), Nick Kwiatkoski (West Virginia), and Bilal Nichols (Delaware).

With defense being his apparent strength and the Bears needing linebacker depth, it wouldn’t be a shock if he guided them towards McDuffie. Especially with inside linebackers coach Bill McGovern having worked there for over a decade prior to his jump to the NFL. Teams will knock the guy because he’s a bit undersized and isn’t at his best in coverage. Yet his athleticism, energy, intensity, and instincts stand out constantly on tape. The guy just feels like a Bears linebacker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdvklFNMXDg&ab_channel=TheGameHaus

David Williams (West coast) – Walker Little, OT, Stanford

Outside of the southeast, there is probably no more important scouting region than the west coast. That is why it’s somewhat surprising the Bears haven’t been more active out there in previous years. They’ve only made a few picks from that area of the country with Hroniss Grasu (Oregon) and Jaylon Johnson (Utah) being the most prominent. If Williams wanted to pick a hill to die on this year, then Walker Little is the one to go with.

While his teammate, quarterback Davis Mills, is getting all the hype Little might quietly be one of the most gifted left tackles in this draft class. He’s a giant athlete at 6’7, 313 lbs with smooth pass sets and solid run blocking technique. People aren’t talking much about him because he didn’t play as much the past two years due to an injury and then the pandemic. He has the look of a guy who will go on Day 2 that probably would be a 1st round pick in normal circumstances.