Ryan Pace, whom the Bears fired as 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 general manager Terry Fontenot, with whom he spent 13 years in the Saints organization. The Falcons hired Fontenot a year ago; Pace left the Saints to be the Bears general manager in 2015.
Pace will be working alongside the man he replaced — former Bears GM Phil Emery is also a senior personnel executive, as is former Titans GM Ruston Webster. Emery spent three years as the Bears GM, failing to reach the postseason. Pace made the playoffs twice in his tenure; the Bears lost to the Eagles on Cody Parkey’s double-doink at the end of the 2018 season and were blown out by the Saints’ as the NFC’s first-ever No. 7 seed after the 2020 season.
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.