Two frequent notes about Ryan Pace are that he came to the Bears as a “rookie” GM and that his first draft was made without the benefit of his own staff around him. Therefore, the argument goes, it is unfair to compare his first draft to “typical” drafts. I have trouble accepting the first argument, because he is either qualified to be the GM of an NFL team or he is not. The second argument might have a bit more merit, though, and is at least worth testing. However, in the interest of fairness I wanted to compare Ryan Pace to his true peers and try to find parallels on both fronts.
Rookie GMs: Pace Isn’t Keeping Up
