Arkush: As a draft-day dealer, Pace has more wins than losses

Depending on whom you talk to, evaluations of Chicago Bears general manager and 2018 NFL Executive of the Year Ryan Pace are all over the board.

In his five NFL drafts, his four first-round draft picks - all in the top 10 - have yielded disappointing results from Kevin White, Leonard Floyd, Mitch Trubisky and Roquan Smith.

On the other hand, Pace has hit the Lotto on later picks including Eddie Goldman, Cody Whitehair, Tarik Cohen, Eddie Jackson, Nick Kwiatkoski, Jordan Howard and Adrian Amos. Bilal Nichols, Bryce Callahan and Roy Robertson-Harris have been hits as undrafted rookie free agents.

There are also still promising potential paydays from Anthony Miller, James Daniels, David Montgomery and Riley Ridley.

Obviously, free agency has had a big impact on his transformation of the Bears, too, but overall there is little dispute Pace has a much more talented roster today that the one he inherited five years ago.

Part of what makes Bears fans a little nuts, though, is Pace's tendency to be a trade maven on draft day.

During Pace's visit with the media Tuesday, I asked him how he weighs the value of trading draft assets for an instant payoff.

"It is a balance," Pace said. "I think we are always mindful of that. We're aggressive by nature, we operate with a no-regrets mindset, but you also have to be responsible with those draft picks.

"For me, it's whenever there is conviction from us as a whole, and there's a consensus from our scouts and coaches together, that really makes it for me easier to pull the trigger on something like that.

"And then there are ways we can move around and accumulate picks, too. So I think you are weighing all those things as the draft unfolds."

That got me to thinking: If we look at every draft trade Pace has made, how do they actually grade out?

His first draft in 2015 featured just one deal, sending Brandon Marshall to the Jets for a fifth-round pick, No. 142, that became Adrian Amos.

Give the man an A.

In 2016, Pace got busy, first sending Martellus Bennett to the Patriots for a fourth-round pick, No. 127.

Then he traded the 11th pick overall and his own four (No. 106) to the Bucs for the No. 9 pick to take Floyd.

Next, pace traded his second, No. 41, to the Bills for the 49th pick, a fourth (117) and a 2017 fourth, and then he traded 49 to Seattle for No. 56 and another fourth (124) and he used 56 on Whitehair.

Pace then took the 117 he got from the Bills and his own sixth (206) and traded it to the Rams for 113, which he used on Nick Kwiatkoski. Pace used the 124th pick on Deon Bush and 127 on Deiondre Hall.

He also acquired sixth-round picks from the Pats for Jon Bostic (204) and Panthers (206) for Jared Allen.

His 2016 trades are, at worst, a B.

2017 will always be remembered for the Mitch Trubisky trade/pick, a disaster even if he becomes the quarterback of the future because Pace gave up two threes and a four unnecessarily to move up one spot, and what looks like a wasted second-rounder when Pace took Adam Shaheen at 45.

But ...

He started that draft with the 36th pick in the second round, which he traded down to 45 with the Cardinals and also got Arizona's fourth-round pick (119), sixth rounder (197) and a 2018 fourth.

He then used that 197th pick and his own fourth to trade with the Rams for the 112th pick to take Jackson, and used the 119th pick on Cohen.

Anything less than a B-minus is just being contrarian.

Pace was relatively quiet in 2018, making just one deal, sending that fourth-rounder he got from Arizona a year earlier and his 2019 second pick to the Patriots to take Anthony Miller at 51.

Let's call it a B if Miller can stay healthy going forward.

In 2019, Pace gave up his first- and sixth-rounders for Khalil Mack, and then traded his third (87) and fifth (162) and a fourth-rounder this year to the Patriots to select David Montgomery at 73.

The Mack deal - which of course also leaves him without a first and third this year but adds a second and sixth - is a huge win. But it's a year too early to grade Montgomery, so let's call it an incomplete that is still going to be no worse than a B.

Bears fans and analysts will each have their own opinions of Ryan Pace, GM, five years in.

But any objective analysis makes it almost impossible to argue he hasn't had a lot more wins than losses when it comes to his aggressive dealing on draft day.

Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.