With Pace putting a huge premium in draft picks, I think chances are slim that he would consider trading away his first-round draft pick. It’s my belief the Bears are operating with the idea in mind that it will take three draft classes to really lay the foundation for what they want to have. Yes, trading a first for Wilkerson would give them a huge piece for their defense but the 11th pick in the draft last year, Vikings cornerback Trae Waynes, received a four-year contract worth a little more than $11.5 million and the deal includes a club option for a fifth year. That’s cheap labor. Wilkerson has to be looking at the contract Malik Jackson got from the Jaguars in free agency ($85.5 million over five years with $42 million guaranteed and an annual average salary of $17.1 million) and thinking that would look pretty good. Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, Wilkerson could be signed to a deal averaging $16 million per season. That’s still going to be about $4 million more than the 11th pick in this draft will get over the next four seasons combined. The draft brings with it cheap labor and that’s why the teams that draft successfully are typically the ones that can sustain success in a league with a salary cap.