Meh. I don't believe half the stuff said about drafts
either before picks like "The Browns are itching to move up to take Trubisky"
nor after picks including "I would have picked Mahomes" after the fact.
Possibly true but none of it is here nor there when considering Pace moved up to be SURE he got HIS QB and he flubbed it. I didn't have a problem with the trade-up then and I actually still don't. If he had picked Mahomes or even Watson, none of us would be reasonably complaining.
I had a problem with the trade up. I could understand if there was a clear cut No 1 guy but there wasnt. The guy he fell in love with had one year starting. Mahomes was a project in a system that struggled to produce NFL QBs and Watson had accuracy and turnover concerns. Trubisky was simply not head and shoulders above everyone else so there is a fundamental flaw if that was the conclusion Pace reached.
Especially when there is now talk that Fox loved Watson, Pace had Mahomes as 2 and Ragone had Mahomes I think. If everyone in that building is not 100% convinced about someone then the smart thing to do is stand pat as at best all 3 guys will be there and at worst 2 out 3 will be there.
So there is a level of hubris involved where Pace ignored the fact there was no overwhelming consensus and basically said fuck it I am going with the guy I like and wasting draft picks to do it. Didnt even bother to let Fox know probably because Fox had a different guy. Say what you will about Fox but he had decades of experience over Pace and Pace just ignored it because he thought he was the smartest guy in the room.
As with the Greeks, hubris tends to result in tragedy. In short, whether he made the right or wrong shot, his process was flawed. Akin to taking a 30 foot shot with 20 seconds left. It is a dumb shot whether it goes in or not unless you are Steph Curry and Pace had no reason to believe he was.