With that in mind, the Bears traded into the 155th overall slot in the fifth round of the NFL Draft last Saturday to select Tulsa edge rusher Trevis Gipson. Chicago sent a 2021 fourth-round pick to Minnesota in order to move up for Gipson, who had 15 tackles for loss and eight sacks in 2019.
"We felt like that area of the draft, right there in the fifth round there was a lot of value for us where we had players graded really high on our board," Pace said.
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The Bears were intrigued by Gipson's potential. He's a late-blooming athlete who added 60 pounds to his frame in college while maintaining his explosiveness.
Gipson polished himself as a pass rusher by attending the Von Miller Pass Rush Summit last summer. He has also studied the technique of Bears pass rusher Khalil Mack, whom he could complement as a rookie.
"I’m just ready to learn a whole lot," Gipson said of Mack. "He’s one of my favorite players. I feel like he’s one of the guys I try to model my game after. So, I’m going to come in and put in the hard work and hopefully we can star together."
Gipson comes from a family full of athletes. His father, Thomas, played basketball at Texas. His mother, Cassundra, ran track at North Texas. His brother, Thomas, played basketball at Kansas State and currently plays overseas in Finland.
But it was football that drew in Gipson, who fell in love with the game at five years old and realized as he developed at the college level that there was potential for the NFL. Gipson arrives to the Bears a raw prospect -- which he embraces.
"I don’t think I’ve reached my full potential just yet," Gipson said. "I’m really just taking it day by day. I’ve got a lot of people that want to teach me how to do certain things or show me how to do things.
"Especially going to Chicago, I have a lot of people that I can trust that have obviously displayed their level of talent."
While the Bears signed veteran pass rusher Robert Quinn to a five-year, $70-million deal in March to create a tenacious tandem with Mack, they were still searching for depth at outside linebacker as they entered the draft. Not only did the Bears lack a third rusher, they needed a developmental player at the position.
When Gipson was available in the fifth round, Pace and the Bears didn't want to take any chances -- even with a selection eight picks away. So they moved up.
"Without having to give up a pick in this year's draft, that was valuable for us," Pace said. "He was a player we had graded high, and we wanted to make sure we got him."