Adam Shaheen traded to Dolphins, Ryan Pace draft tragedies continue

Adam Shaheen heads to the Dolphins, but Ryan Pace remains with the Bears.

We can now safely say taking tight end Adam Shaheen in the second round was a terrible idea.

When the Chicago Bears selected Shaheen with the No. 45 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Ashland, it was met with a “who is that?” followed by an unhealthy supply of face palms. Clearly overdrafted, the Bears got 26 catches in 27 games for 249 yards and four touchdowns out of the former Ashland Eagle in three seasons with the club. He is now a member of the Miami Dolphins.

With Tom Pelissero of The NFL Network reporting Shaheen is taking his limited football talents to South Beach, we must look at the man responsible for drafting him. Ryan Pace has conducted six drafts as the general manager of the Bears. While Pace has picked five Pro Bowl players, it is a bit misleading, as he’s missed on a ton of picks thus far in the big chair. Shaheen is yet another failure.

Ryan Pace taking Adam Shaheen in the second round was another bad decision.

While new beginnings on the Dolphins may be exactly what Shaheen needs to reclaim his fading NFL career, Pace was responsible for having more tight ends on your roster than imaginable and not having a single one of them have at least 100 receiving yards in 2019. Let’s take a look at some of the major follies Pace has had drafting for the Bears in the last half-dozen springs.

His first first-round pick was wide receiver Kevin White out of West Virginia. He landed with the Bears at No. 7 back in 2015. White has 25 catches for 285 yards in his rancid NFL career. Vic Beasley Jr. was an All-Pro in 2016 with the Atlanta Falcons and Todd Gurley starred with the Los Angeles Rams. Beasley came off the board at No. 8, while Gurley went two picks later at No. 10.

While Pace did draft a pair of Pro Bowlers in 2016 in Cody Whitehair out of Kansas State (No. 56) and Jordan Howard out of Indiana (No. 150), his first-round pick in Leonard Floyd out of Georgia at No. 9 didn’t get the fifth-year option extended and now plays for the Rams. Whitehair may still be around, but Howard isn’t as he’s now Shaheen’s teammate in their first year together in Miami.

2017 did net the Bears three Pro Bowlers in Mitchell Trubisky out of North Carolina (No. 2), Eddie Jackson out of Alabama (No. 112) and Tarik Cohen out of North Carolina A&T (No. 117). However, Pace did trade up from No. 3 to draft Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes, who went No. 10 to the Kansas City Chiefs and Deshaun Watson, who went No. 12 to the Houston Texans. It’s so, so bad.

Though Roquan Smith out of Georgia in 2018 is a good player, he was the last first-round pick made by the Bears, as Pace traded away their 2019 and 2020 first-rounders to the then-Oakland Raiders for pass-rushing superstar Khalil Mack. While Mack has been great for the Bears, the Raiders drafted running back Josh Jacobs and cornerback Damon Arnette with those selections.

Of the five Pro Bowlers Pace drafted, one is on another team and his precious quarterback prospect will compete for the starting job with veteran journeyman and Super Bowl 52 MVP Nick Foles. Trubisky will lose that job out of training camp. Cohen, Jackson, Smith and Whitehair are excellent players, but missing on Shaheen is another demerit on Pace’s less-than-stellar resume.

The Bears can be good, but they’ll never be great if their quarterback and general manager stay.