Chicago Bears: 3 options to replace Ryan Pace

Ed Dodds

Back in 2015, before Ryan Pace was hired, there was a strong contingent who wanted the team to hire Chris Ballard, who served as an area scout for the Bears from 2001-2011. Many thought that gave him the inside track to be hired, but apparently his unwillingness to commit to Jay Cutler was the reason he was not hired. He wanted to move on from Jay and the Bears ownership didn’t. It’s that simple.

If the Bears move on from Pace, while they won’t be able to land Ballard, they could get the next best thing — his top lieutenant — Ed Dodds.

Currently serving as the Indianapolis Colts assistant general manager, Dodds should be in high demand for any general manager vacancies next offseason. He’s a terrific evaluator of talent and has been a big part of the infusion of talent in Indy after former GM Ryan Grigson eviscerated the team.

In his three years in Indy, he was instrumental in the drafting of Darius Leonard, Quenton Nelson, Rock Ya-Sin, Ben Banogu, and Parris Campbell. He also played a role in bringing in quality free agents like Justin Houston and Devin Funchess.

He has a total of 17 years of experience in the league evaluating talent and learning how to run an organization. If he decides to leverage that experience and success into a Gm gig of his own, I’d expect every team in need would be interested.