Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace continues to show he has no qualms about taking risks. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Teams never get better unless the men in charge are willing to take calculated gambles. Some of them have worked wonders for Pace. His trade up for Leonard Floyd in 2016, signing of Akiem Hicks and waiting to draft Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen spring to mind.
However for all his good moves, Pace has one glaring flaw that continues to haunt him. That being his management of the wide receiver position. To date his two most notable additions to that position have blown up in his face. Kevin White, his very first draft pick from 2017 has ended up on injured reserve for the third-straight season. Cameron Meredith, his undrafted discovery that same year has a torn ACL.
For White in particular it’s been an indictment on Pace. Though one can’t predict injuries, the fact is the young receiver wasn’t all that effective even when healthy. For a guy who boasted 4.3 speed at the combine he seemed awful slow on the field. So what was the problem and is there a lesson for Pace to learn when he drafts a receiver next spring?
Ryan Pace has a bad habit of favoring talent over experience
No one can say the 40-year old GM doesn’t recognize talent. The array of ascending players he’s assembled in the past two years counters that argument. No his biggest issue is he might favor physical skill a little too much over playing experience. The most recent example is quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Most experts agreed he might be the most complete QB in the 2017, but he was also the most inexperienced. His play to this point has reflected as much.
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Nobody knows how long it will be until he catches up to the speed of the NFL, or if he ever will. That’s the problem. A lot of players who didn’t log much time in college aren’t able to adjust at the pro level. It’s like going from “beginner” to “insane” on a video game. White faced the same problem. He only played one year at West Virginia before making the jump.
If people think his struggles are an aberration and not the rule, just look at the NFL landscape right now. I compiled a list of the best wide receivers to come out of college since 2010. Pinpointed about them were two things: what conference they played in and how many years they logged there.
A.J. Green
- SEC (Georgia)
- 3 years of experience
Antonio Brown
- MAC (Central Michigan)
- 3 years of experience
Demaryius Thomas
- ACC (Georgia Tech)
- 3 years of experience
Julio Jones
- SEC (Alabama)
- 3 years of experience
Odell Beckham Jr.
- SEC (LSU)
- 3 years of experience
Dez Bryant
- Big 12 (Oklahoma State)
- 3 years of experience
T.Y. Hilton
- C-USA (Florida International)
- 4 years of experience
Amari Cooper
- SEC (Alabama)
- 3 years of experience
Jarvis Landry
- SEC (LSU)
- 3 years of experience
Emmanuel Sanders
- AAC (SMU)
- 4 years of experience
Every single player on that list has gone to multiple Pro Bowls. Looking at the way things shake out there are two big takeaways. It doesn’t really matter which school they came from. This provided they had at least three years of experience. The only receiver to have standout success in the NFL with less than that is Mike Evans, who spent two years at Texas A&M. What compensated for that was playing the SEC and being a freak 6’5″ athlete.
Cordarrelle Patterson, the Minnesota Vikings’ former first round pick flopped as a receiver much like White did. He only had one year of experience before leaving Tennessee. His one saving grace was being an excellent kick returner, something White can’t even offer. What makes it so frustrating is they adhered to this blueprint before.
Their two most successful receiver draft picks since 2000 both came in with three or more years of experience. Alshon Jeffery had three with South Carolina and Bernard Berrian had four at Fresno State. It’s not a guarantee of success in the NFL, but the trend holds true nonetheless. If Pace is going to get Trubisky the go-to target he so desperately needs, the best thing for him to do is not get cute about it like he did with White.
