General manager Ryan Pace left open the possibility of selecting a developmental quarterback with one of the Chicago Bears' nine draft picks.
"It really is a good class of quarterbacks, and they’re all unique and they’re all a little different," Pace told Chicago reporters. "I think some guys are going to have different perspectives or different flavors, but it’s a good class. It breaks after a certain point, and then there are some middle-round guys that are intriguing for different reasons. It’s just up to us to analyze that and rank that correctly, and I think we have."
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. believes up to 13 quarterbacks could be drafted.
At the top of the quarterback class is California’s Jared Goff (expected to be No. 1 overall), North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz (expected to be No. 2 overall), Memphis’ Paxton Lynch, Michigan State’s Connor Cook and Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg.
Further down the list are Arkansas’ Brandon Allen, NC State’s Jacoby Brissett, Indiana’s Nate Sudfeld, Stanford’s Kevin Hogan, USC’s Cody Kessler, Louisiana Tech’s Jeff Driskel, Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott, Ohio State’s Cardale Jones and Western Kentucky’s Brandon Doughty.
Since the Bears acquired Jay Cutler via trade from the Denver Broncos in 2009, the team has drafted just three quarterbacks -- Dan LeFevour (sixth round, 2010), Nate Enderle (fifth round, 2011) and David Fales (sixth round, 2014).
As it stands, Fales and Matt Blanchard (former undrafted free agent) are the only two backup quarterbacks on the offseason roster. Whether additional support comes in the draft or free agency, the Bears need to address their depth behind Cutler.
