After Night 2, Ryan Pace enthused by Bears’ draft progress

The Bears were active during the NFL draft’s second night Friday. They made two trades to accumulate three extra picks and finished the night with two new members in their 2016 draft class: offensive lineman Cody Whitehair and defensive end Jonathan Bullard. So just what was general manager Ryan Pace’s assessment of the night?

Pace met with reporters late Friday night at Halas Hall. Here are the most notable highlights from that session.

On his assessment of Whitehair …

“He’s a four-year starter. He’s played multiple positions. We see him as a guard. He played some tackle and I think he can play center too. This is what you’re looking for in an offensive lineman. He’s smart. He’s tough. He’s instinctive. He loves the weight room. Those are all things that I like. … He’s an aggressive player. He’s really good in space. He plays with great inside hand placement and he’s got strong hands. I love offensive lineman with strong inside hands. When they latched on you can’t get rid of him. He’s a very difficult player to shed once he gets his hands on your chest.”

On where Bullard fits on defense …

“We see him more as a 3-4 defensive end for us. He played defensive end (at Florida) and bulked up a little bit more this past season. He added weight to play more of a 3-technique position for them and had his best season with 61/2 sacks. When you watch the tape on him, there’s one thing that you can’t coach with these guys. His get off is excellent. I think there are a lot of advantages just from that alone.”

On adding Whitehair to an already cluttered competition at guard …

“Just wanted to create more competition there, honestly. … It’s pushing everybody. Everybody is getting pushed. Every single one of those offensive linemen is getting pushed. I think that’s what they would expect. We’re going to try to do that at every single position on the roster, not just the offensive line.”

On the possibility of Kyle Long getting a chance to play left tackle …

“He’s so athletic. You guys know he can play any position. So I wouldn’t rule anything out for Kyle. He can play anywhere.”

On whether the Packers trade up from No. 57 to No. 48 impacted the Bears decision to them move from No. 49 to No. 56 …

“That really didn’t affect us. We had a lot of names there that we liked. So when our pick is approaching and we’re realizing, ‘Hey there’s a lot of guys here that we like, this is a chance for us to go back knowing we’ve got enough names to still get a good player and pick up some picks. That’s why we did it.”

On what he’s been able to create in the front seven on defense …

“I think it’s our creation. It’s (John) Fox and (Vic) Fangio and all our scouts. I think it’s just getting guys who are athletic, who are versatile and who play with the tenacity that we are looking for. And that’s how I see it. We want guys who can get to the quarterback too, and I think when you look at (Leonard) Floyd and Bullard now, these are guys who can rush the passer.”

dwiederer@tribpub.com

Twitter @danwiederer