Former Bears GM Ryan Pace lands job with Falcons

Ryan Pace, whom the Bears fired as their general manager last month, has a new job. He’ll be one of three senior personnel directors with the Falcons, the team announced Thursday.

Pace connects to the Falcons through GM Terry Fontenot, with whom he spent 13 years in the Saints’ organization. The Falcons hired Fontenot a year ago; Pace left the Saints to become the Bears’ GM in 2015.

Pace will be working alongside the man he replaced as the Bears’ GM. Phil Emery is also a senior personnel executive with the Falcons, as is former Titans GM Ruston Webster. Emery spent three seasons as the Bears’ GM, failing to reach the postseason and being fired after the 2014 season. Pace was hired less than two weeks later.

Pace will find a lot of former Bears coaches in his new home. Offensive coordinator Dave Ragone, quarterbacks coach Charles London, outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino and running backs coach Michael Pitre all worked under Pace at Halas Hall.

The Bears went 48-65 in seven seasons under Pace, who infamously traded up to pick quarterback Mitch Trubisky in 2017 instead of selecting two other first-round quarterbacks: Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

The Bears made the playoffs twice during Pace’s tenure as their GM. They lost to the Eagles on Cody Parkey’s double-doink in January 2019 and were blown out by the Saints as the NFC’s first No. 7 seed in January 2021.

Former Bears coach Matt Nagy, who was fired on the same day Pace was, has yet to land another job.

Bears hire Feinstein

Matt Feinstein is joining the Bears’ front office as their director of football administration. He replaces Joey Laine, who was the chief contract negotiator under Pace after following him to the Bears from the Saints.

Feinstein, a Michigan alum, worked with the NFL Management Council in 2016-22, first as a manager and then as a senior manager. Last month, he was promoted to NFL director of labor operations.

With the Management Council, Feinstein built models that analyzed roster and salary rules, sharing his results with the league office and team owners.