Chicago Bears add a game changer in Mack

The price of two-first-round picks that the Chicago Bears will send to the Oakland Raiders for Khalil Mack, might seem exorbitant to some, but it's not.

First, it's actually a bit less than that, since the Bears also get a second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2020, while the Raiders get a third-round pick from the Bears in 2020 and a sixth-rounder in 2019.

The Bears won't have a 2019 pick until the third round because they gave up a second-rounder to move up this year and get Memphis wide receiver Anthony Miller with the 51st overall pick.

The Bears quickly signed Mack on Saturday to the richest defensive contract in NFL history. It will pay him $141 million over his six-year extension, on top of the $13.86 million he gets in 2018 from the final year of his rookie deal. Mack is guaranteed $60 million at signing the extension and $90 million total. That's an average of $23.5 million in new money.

He is now the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL, eclipsing the six-year, $135 million deal defensive tackle Aaron Donald signed Friday with the Los Angeles Rams. That contract includes $87 million in guarantees.

Bears general manager Ryan Pace will be criticized for mortgaging the team's future, but that's a shortsighted view and one that fails to take into consideration the lack of production the Bears have received from recent first-round picks.

Plus, Mack is just 27, already in the prime of his career and likely to remain at that level for several years. He never has missed a start in four years.

Pace's bold move clearly signals the Bears are in full-fledged go-for-it mode, a welcome sign for fans of a team that has been buried in the NFC North cellar for the past four years.

Part of the reason for that prolonged slump is the lack of production from first-round picks and the lack of impact players in general.

In the 14 years before this year's selection of inside linebacker Roquan Smith, the various Halas Hall talent evaluators have selected one player in the first round who made even one Pro Bowl: offensive lineman Kyle Long.

Tight end Greg Olsen, the Bears' 2007 first-rounder, has been to three Pro Bowls but didn't make his first until four years after he was traded to the Carolina Panthers.

Wide receiver Kevin White, Pace's first first-round pick in 2015, has accomplished next to nothing in three injury-ravaged seasons. Outside linebacker Leonard Floyd has flashed production and still has upside but has missed 10 games in his first two seasons with injuries and is nursing a broken right hand that will limit his effectiveness for at least the next month.

Mitch Trubisky (2017) may or may not be the franchise quarterback Pace expects, but he has a long way to go. Smith, this year's top pick, has yet to practice at full strength but appears to be an impact player and should only benefit from Mack's presence.

Mack has 36½ sacks over the past three seasons, second most in the league, and 40½ in a four-year career with the Raiders since he was the fifth overall pick in 2014 out of Buffalo.

He also has 185½ quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He has been voted to the Pro Bowl in each of the previous three seasons and was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2016. In 2015, when he had a career-high 15 sacks, Mack was named all-pro at outside linebacker and defensive end.

He had 74 quarterback hurries in 2016, according to Pro Football Focus. Last year, as a team, the Bears had 100.

In other words, Mack's production is befitting a No. 1 overall pick in the draft, the kind of juice the Bears are unlikely to get from their next two first-rounders, based on recent history.

Mack played both defensive end and outside linebacker in the Raiders' 4-3 scheme, but he will be an outside linebacker in the Bears' defense under coordinator Vic Fangio, whose crew ranked 10th last year in yards allowed and ninth in points.

The Bears were sixth in sack percentage, although Akiem Hicks (8½) was their only player with more than 4½ sacks.

The biggest knock on the roster Pace has compiled, and even on an otherwise solid defense, had been that there was a dearth of impact players. Not anymore, not with the addition of the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Mack, who gets headlines for his sacks total but also is an exceptional defender against the run.

Mack's presence will make Hicks and Floyd more effective as pass rushers, since he demands double-team attention on most passing downs. But he also bolsters the run defense, where the rookie Smith is expected to make a big impact.

Pressure from Mack also should help the Bears break out of the interception slump they've been in the past three years. They established a franchise-record low with 8 in 2015 and then matched that the next two years.

• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.