People haven’t really stopped to realize something this offseason. What is currently happening with Ryan Pace is not normal. It’s exceedingly rare for a GM to misfire badly on a top quarterback draft pick, have just one winning record in six seasons, and still manage to keep his job. That just isn’t normal in the NFL. This is why it’s so difficult to project what will happen to the Chicago Bears over the next couple of months.
I was so curious about something. Has there ever been a person in the modern NFL who experienced anything close to what is happening with Pace? Where he missed on a quarterback high, survived the crashing and burning, and still got the opportunity to take another big crack at the position. After some careful research, only one name came up.
David Caldwell.
A member of the Atlanta Falcons front office from 2008 to 2012, he became GM of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2013. One year later, they ended up with the 3rd pick in the draft. Nobody was sure who they were going to take. Mel Kiper and Todd McShay of ESPN both had them taking Buffalo star pass rusher Khalil Mack. In the end, Caldwell pulled a bit of a shocker by taking UCF standout quarterback Blake Bortles.
blake bortles career summed up in one play pic.twitter.com/m31nNFbYJF
— Seth Galina (@pff_seth) July 2, 2020
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It’s a decision he and Jacksonville would come to regret. Over the next four seasons, Bortles was a one-man rollercoaster. He threw more INTs than TDs as a rookie, had 35 TD passes in 2015, regressed in 2016, and then helped the Jaguars make the AFC championship behind an elite defense in 2017. Then the next season he managed just 13 touchdowns in 12 games and was finally cut.
Many expected Caldwell would go with him. Instead, ownership decided to keep him around. Not a popular choice at the time. This meant going into 2019, the GM was under massive pressure. He had to find a quarterback and he had to win. Immediately. Sound familiar?
What happened next sealed his fate.
Ryan Pace can’t afford to blunder like that
Caldwell handed over $80 million to Nick Foles. At the time it seemed to make sense. The guy was a former Super Bowl MVP and he’d gotten the Philadelphia Eagles back to the playoffs in 2018. His stock was sky-high. Unfortunately, the Jaguars GM did a poor job scouting his top target. He failed to account for the lack of athleticism and also the track record for getting injured.
Sure enough, barely a quarter into the season Foles breaks his collarbone. Rookie Gardner Minshew played well in his place but it wasn’t enough. Jacksonville stumbled to another bad finish. Foles was traded after just one year. Caldwell didn’t even make it to the end of the 2020 season, receiving his pink slip in late November.
Long overdue in the estimation of many.
This could be the fate that awaits Ryan Pace. He’s misfired at quarterback numerous times already. Not just with Mitch Trubisky. If Caldwell failed to learn his lesson two years ago, why should anybody trust Pace can be different? Maybe the presence of Matt Nagy, a quarterback specialist will help. Then again Nagy was right there when they traded for Foles last season.
It just feels like the deck is stacked squarely against the Bears GM. He needs to pull off the move of his career to stop what looks more and more like a runaway train at this point.