An important point to remember with the pre-draft process heating up and the free-agent picture slowly coming into focus: transactions speak louder than words.

Nowhere will the Bears' offseason transactions be more telling than the quarterback position, obviously, but how their precious resources reserved for an already-strong defense are spent will say far more than Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy did in 40 combined minutes this week from the annual NFL scouting combine.

After the subject of Pace’s most recent first-round pick Roquan Smith’s turbulent second season wasn’t broached at the season-ending news conference, we asked the general manager Tuesday how it affected his evaluation and the Bears’ plans for the current vacancy opposite Smith with Nick Kwiatkoski, Danny Trevathan and Kevin Pierre-Louis impending free agents.

“Inside linebacker for us is a position of strength. I do feel like last year, when we talk about our defense, that we got hit with injuries with both those players [Smith and Trevathan]. I think that hurt us – with Akiem going down in the middle, too. But this is a fully recoverable thing for Roquan. When he was healthy last year and playing right, you saw the player that we drafted and why we took him so high. Our outlook on him is very optimistic.”

However, Smith obviously wasn’t playing right for at least a month upon returning from his first-ever missed start, the mysterious late scratch in Week 4 for personal issues, and the inside linebacker corps obviously isn’t a position of strength at the moment, either, but we think we know what Pace meant. Bears fans certainly must hope Pace’s optimism is sincere and fully warranted, and Smith did play at his Pro Bowl rookie form out of the gate as a sophomore in Week 1 and in his final full start on Thanksgiving.

It was interesting, though, that the very next question for Pace was on potential negotiations with Nick Kwiatkoski, who’d be not only the most expensive to retain of their inside linebacker trio, but likely the Bears’ biggest splurge on defense. Kwiatkoski absolutely earned his soon-to-be lucrative second NFL contract with last season’s massive jump from dependable special teamer who was limited defensively to a plus starter in a playoff-caliber D. Receiving it from the Bears would be a surprise in light of what they have invested in Smith, whom they say they expect to be at his best coming off pectoral surgery that isn’t serious but adds another obstacle he must overcome.

We also asked Pace about his other former first-round linebacker, lightning rod Leonard Floyd. While his sack total has declined in each of his four seasons, Floyd’s become a better, more reliable all-around linebacker.

Floyd is currently set to earn $13.2 million in the final year of his rookie contract – the 2020 option exercised by the team last year but not fully guaranteed until next month, creating at least some uncertainty about his Bears future.

“I think Leonard wants to be more productive as a pass-rusher. We want him to be more productive there too. … But I think when you’re evaluating him, you have to factor in everything – his run defense, his ability in coverage. We consider him our ‘SAM’ outside linebacker, so we value what he can do in coverage, and think sometimes that goes a little underrated for what he does in that area, for a guy that’s of his stature. Not many outside linebackers can drop in coverage like he does, so that’s a factor.”

It continues to sound more and more like the Bears intend on keeping Floyd either on their option or perhaps an extension that decreases their cap commitment this season. And with no one currently on the roster capable of filling his versatile role, perhaps swallowing hard in order to avoid creating another starting vacancy – this time at a premium position – is their best bet.

But remember that transactions speak even louder than words, and behind the scenes the Bears are surely exploring all avenues in what could be an unusually robust veteran pass-rush market, as well as a possible sweet spot in Round 2 of the draft to secure more juice off the edge opposite Khalil Mac``k.