Chicago Bears: Three players Ryan Pace could reach for in 2018 NFL Draft

Which surprise players in the 2018 NFL Draft could convince Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears to take a risk and reach for their talent?

With mock drafts flying around and the Senior Bowl happening at this very moment, we are building up to peak 2018 NFL Draft season. And once the NFL Combine hits, Chicago Bears fans will have their head swimming with possibilities for the eighth-overall pick.

Calvin Ridley? Quenton Nelson? Connor Williams? Trade up? Trade down? Which prospects will gain steam with the NFL community after their workouts? Which ones who may have been top prospects could fall into the Bears’ range?

It’s going to be chaos. But that’s half the fun of it. And part of that fun will be to anticipate how Ryan Pace could bamboozle us all with another outside-the-box first-round draft pick.

In 2015, it was wide receiver Kevin White. Two years ago, the Bears traded up for linebacker Leonard Floyd. And last season, Pace unforgettably staked his career to quarterback Mitch Trubisky by trading up to take him second overall.

What do all of these players have in common? They were all raw players with a lot of growth ahead of them but with the potential to become superstars.

In truth, a lot of their later round picks embodied that to a lesser extent as well (think Tarik Cohen and Eddie Jackson, both of which surprised fans).

The point of all this? Always expect the unexpected with Ryan Pace. Never assume that the Chicago Bears will take a player that everyone assumes makes sense.

Pace isn’t just looking for polished players who can come in and start Day 1. He wants the diamonds in the rough: the guys who can set things on fire.

On that note, here are a few players that the Chicago Bears might reach for in the 2018 NFL Draft with visions of them turning into elite players that return this stagnant franchise to glory.

Marcus Davenport

If you’re a Chicago Bears fan following the Senior Bowl, you’ve seen this name popping up quite a bit of late. In fact, our own Patrick Sheldon profiled him recently.

Part of it is because the Bears have made a point to take chances on Senior Bowl standouts since Ryan Pace has run the team. Of his 20 draft picks, six players—including Adrian Amos and Cody Whitehair—have participated in the Senior Bowl.

The other reason Davenport might have Pace’s eye, aside from being a good football player, is that he embodies that tantalizing upside that Pace loves.

After playing somewhat in obscurity with the University of Texas-San Antonio, racking up 27.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks in his last two seasons, Davenport has attracted all kinds of attention in Mobile.

His big 6-foot-6, 250-frame places him in ideal outside linebacker territory, particularly as a partner for Leonard Floyd. And he has the quickness and athleticism needed to be a pain off the edge in a 3-4 defensive scheme.

Now, we probably don’t want to talk about him going with the eighth pick just yet. He has reportedly had an up-and-down Senior Bowl practice week, struggling to win one-on-one repetitions against top competition. At the moment, his pass rushing technique remains raw despite his athleticism.

So basically…how soon can the Chicago Bears take him?

Pace has never been shy about taking chances on young guys with a need for seasoning in hopes that they can become a star. In fact, that’s exactly what he did with Floyd, who has been dominant at times (especially when he has help).

If he has a big performance on Saturday and blows things up at the NFL Combine/his pro day, watch out. The Chicago Bears very well could fall in love with Davenport, who has mountains of potential.

Courtland Sutton

Make no mistake about it: Calvin Ridley is clearly the most NFL-ready receiver in the 2018 NFL Draft both from experience and technical standpoints. No one needs to debate that too heavily at this point.

However, if we think about the guys Ryan Pace likes to draft, Ridley doesn’t quite fit the bill partly for that reason. What’s the last guy the Bears general manager picked that everyone thought was a finished product?

Pace loves to project on talent and potential, relying on coaches to get the most out of his players. That’s where Sutton, a monstrous receiver out of SMU, comes in.

In the eyes of most, Sutton isn’t a top 10 pick right now because he simply wasn’t dominant enough against the American Athletic Conference last year. That might make people raise their eyebrows given what he put up his last two seasons (1,246 yards, 12 touchdowns in 2016; 1,085 yards, 10 TDs in 2017). But given his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame, insane athleticism and run-after-catch ability, the expectations were a bit higher for him.

Will he be ready to face elite competition after playing against relative cupcakes in college? He certainly has the size, athleticism and physicality to make it happen.

And with a young quarterback to grow with and an offense that would wield him as a matchup nightmare? That could be a match made in heaven for Sutton.

Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller remarked in December that Sutton has the best potential out of any player in this draft. Can’t you almost see Pace fanning himself in the corner thinking about Sutton turning into Julio Jones?

And if Pace gets it into his mind to take him, he’s not going to care what happened the last time he took a receiver in the first round. He’s just going to go do his thing.

It probably won’t be at #8 overall; even that might be too big a reach for Pace. But if quarterbacks are flying off the board and the Bears trade down, the radar will be going off.

Then again, who knows? A monster Combine/pro day performance could pique the Bears’ interest.

Roquan Smith

Okay, this wouldn’t necessarily be a huge reach at the eighth-overall pick. Smith rivals Minkah Fitzpatrick and Bradley Chubb for the best defensive player in this draft. Also, Smith has been mocked all around the back end of the top 10, typically just after the Bears pick.

Obviously, everyone got to see the Butkus Award winner flying all over the field and devouring people during the National Championship game. You also probably noted that Smith was the best player on either team, and that it wasn’t particularly close.

Yep, even against vaunted Alabama, Smith played second fiddle to no one.

His athleticism, playmaking ability and penchant for destruction remind me of pre-injury Jaylon Smith. He chases plays down with ridiculous speed and anticipation and runs stride-for-stride with wide receivers down the field when he feels like it.

Especially, for an inside linebacker, he does some special stuff. So why in the world hasn’t a single person mocked him to the Chicago Bears at #8 overall?

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Sure, the Bears have Danny Trevathan and Nick Kwiatkowski penciled in as stars at inside linebacker. But you did see what happened to the Bears’ linebacking corps last year, right?

Can anyone make the argument that getting more talent at that position, especially a guy who could be the best defensive player in this draft, shouldn’t be on the table?

Besides, if we’re going to keep it 100, if the Bears selected Smith, he probably supplants Kwiatkowski like immediately.

Smith’s lack of prototypical size at 6-foot-1, approximately 220 pounds might turn people off, especially if people worry about him taking on blocks up the middle. That’s understandable.

Next: Senior Bowl targets for Chicago Bears

But again, if you want a fast, angry defense that can throttle people and take away this era’s dynamic skill players, Roquan Smith is a guy you want.

If you don’t think he can possibly succeed in the NFL, throw on some tape of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Telvin Smith and Myles Jack. They’ve done just fine for themselves.

Oh yeah, and while you’re at it, imagine a player like that on the Chicago Bears. And let’s put it this way: if you’re passing up Smith for Ridley, you’re doing it wrong if you really believe in “best player available”.