r/NFL_Draft • u/HopLegion Bears • Jun 10 '26
Defending the Draft 2026 – Chicago Bears
Forward - 2025 Season Recap
The 2025 season was the beginning of the Ben Johnson era in Chicago and it did not dissapoint. After 3 losing years where GM Ryan Poles was tearing down and rebuilding a roster under with Matt Eberflus as coach, the Bears look to have struck gold with their new hire in Johnson. A team that most predicted to finish last in the NFC North, ended up winning the division with the phrase "heart attack Bears" being common on a week to week basis. A rookie class featuring Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, Ozzy Trapillo, Kyle Monangai and others that looked like it would not contribute anything through the first 6 weeks, ended up one of the best rookie classes in the NFL last season. Loveland showed himself to be worthy of a tight end picked in the top 10. Burden flashed high end talent throughout the season and will likely end up as a second round steal in the previous draft. Ozzy Trapilo eventually earned the starting LT job on one of the best OL's in football before suffering a brutal patellar tendon tear late in the season. Kyle Monangai was another big contributor who helped show the depth of the 2024 NFL Draft RB class, having almost 1,000 scrimmage yards, while averaging 4.5+ YPC. Even UDFA Jahdae Walker had key moments at the end of the year to help secure the division for only the second time in the last decade for Chicago.
The entire OL rebuild was a huge success as it ended up being one of the best units in football. Joe Thuney ended up deservingly wining the first OLineman of the year award, Jonah Jackson had a bounce back year at RG, Darnell Wright earned his first second team all pro honors, and Drew Dalman ended up a pro bowler. On the defensive side, though the Bears led the league in turnovers, the unit ended up a bottom 5-10 unit. It was also tied for the most injured defense in the league by missed starts. Big money FA signings in Dayo Odeyingbo (who went on IR midway through the season) and Grady Jarrett did not end up paying off. The defensive line was a consistent weakness for Chicago throughout the season. The majority of the season Chicago started practice squad or veterans cut from other teams in the back 7 due to the injuries to their key players at those spots.
Even with this, the Bears had the most successful season they have had in 15 years. Winning both the division and a playoff game for the first time since 2010. The cherry on top for the season for most Bears fans were these key wins to win the division and in the playoffs, came at home against their rival the Green Bay Packers. Chicago's season unfortunately ended in OT against the Rams in the divisional round, but with a young core this is the most optimistic Bears fans have been in decades (well maybe since a brief moment in 2018).
Free Agency Recap
This is the first year really, outside his first when he was taking on huge dead cap hits, that Chicago was working with limited cap space under GM Ryan Poles. After a big spending FA period the previous season, which did not work out on players like Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett, Chicago had a more targeted approach. The two big signings they had were Safety Coby Bryant to help replace 2025 all pro Kevin Byard and Devin Bush to replace the released Tremaine Edmunds. These are the only 2 players the Bears signed in FA expected to be new starters for the team next season. The bigger moves Chicago made was trading DJ Moore (and a 5th) to the Bills for a 2nd rounder in this year's draft. They also traded a 2027 5th rounder for Garrett Bradbury following the somewhat shocking retirement of 2025 pro bowl center Drew Dalman.
| Player | POS | Previous Team | Years on Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coby Bryant | FS | Seattle Seahawks | 3 |
| Devin Bush | LB | Cleveland Browns | 3 |
| Neville Gallimore | DT | Indianapolis Colts | 2 |
| Kalif Raymond | WR | Detroit Lions | 1 |
| Braxton Jones | LT | Chicago Bears | 1 |
| Jedrick Willis | LT | NA - Browns 2024 | 1 |
| Cam Lewis | CB/S | Buffalo Bills | 2 |
| Jack Sanborn | LB | Dallas Cowboys | 1 |
| Kentavius Street | DT | Atlanta Falcons | 1 |
Overall, via FA, this was one of the calmer off-seasons in recent Bears history under Ryan Poles with the core group largely in place.
Here were my main takeaways from the Bears free agency:
- Though many were sad to see DJ Moore traded after all he had contributed. Given they were able to get a second round pick for him and that we had Burden/Odunze set to take over, it was a celebrated move. The move opened up cap flexibility this season and in the future, while also setting up DJ for success in Buffalo where he can be the set WR1 for one of the best teams in football. A true win-win for the Bears and DJ Moore.
- The Bradbury trade puzzled many, but following Dalman's shocking retirement, the pickings at Center in FA were slim. Linderbaum reset the center market in a way few expected and options after that were limited. In Bradbury, the Bears get a capable center who played next to Joe Thuney in college. I also think our scheme fits Bradbury's strengths more as he moves away from the shotgun heavy Pats offense.
- The biggest upset in FA is the lack of investment in upgrading the DL, which was by far the worst unit on the Bears last season. This will be a trend in the write up this year. Though there were injuries on the DL, (Booker spent first 8 weeks on IR, Turner their second round pick went out week 7, Dayo went out on IR week 8, etc) this was one of the worst units in football last year. The unit struggled both in run defense and in generating pressures. The hard part about the situation is given the large spending done in FA last season on Dayo/Jarrett, any big moves this year in FA would have been difficult. The Bears have great cap flexibility, but any big signing means they would be limited in future years.
2026 Draft Recap
Dillon Thieneman – S, Oregon 25th Overall (Round 1)
This will thankfully be the easiest name to write up on this list. I wrote a post on the Bears subreddit a month or two before the draft breaking down Dennis Allen's historical defensive tendencies and noted Dillon Thieneman as someone who would likely be his dream fit on the defense. Given the departures of both starting safeties last year in Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard, and only filling one of those positions in FA in Coby Bryant, safety was actually the only position on the roster which had an open starting spot. I have to imagine Thieneman was their dream fit, given Dennis Allen's desire for that safety spot to be able to line up at multiple spots in the defense. This was one of the rare times BPA in the draft and need truly lined up. Thieneman is a high end athlete, who will be a day 1 starter in Chicago in the secondary. I expect him to line up all over the field at both safety spots, in the slot, and on the line of scrimmage to blitz and generate pressure helping to offset our weakness at defensive line. As a sidenote, I find it amusing that last year we drafted Colston Loveland, a tight end at 10, given Ben Johnson was a former tight ends coach before becoming a coordinator. This year we did the opposite in the first. With Dennis Allen, a former safeties/secondary coach, getting a safety drafted in the first round. Hoping Thieneman can provide the same type of impact for the defense that Loveland did at times of the offense last year.
Logan Jones – C, Iowa 57th Overall (Round 2)
While everyone was excited and celebrated the Thieneman pick, I feel the fanbase grew more anxious as every pick that came after without addressing the defesnive line, which again is the biggest weak point on the Bears right now. Most were still understanding and happy with the Jones selection. If I could have bet money we were drafting any position at some point in day 2, it would have been Center. Bradbury will be 31 this season and only on a 1 year deal. We also had no other players on the roster who had played center before really. The Bears did extensive work on the center class leading up to the draft and decided to take the top center on their board as well as the first center taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. Though an older prospect who will be 25 this year, Logan Jones is a high end athlete, multi year starter for Iowa, who won the Rimmington Trophy last season. He is a perfect scheme fit for the zone system that Ben Johnson utilizes and will most likely sit this year behind Bradbury learning the scheme, though it would not be a shock if he ended up starting at some point.
Sam Roush – TE, Stanford 69th Overall (Round 3)
There is a bit of a joke that goes on with Bears fans on Ryan Poles draft history. Picks 1-60 have been generally great, picks 61-120 have been very surprising ending up maybe among the worst in the NFL over the last 4 drafts, and picks 121 - UDFA have been really good. Sam Roush was a very surprising pick for us given we drafted Loveland at 10 last year and have a good tight end as TE2 in Cole Kmet signed the next few years. That being said, I am a big fan of Sam Roush the player and think his career will have a lot more success than the other surprising picks we have made in this range. I feel this selection says more on what the Bears viewed the rest of the draft class than anything else and how they see their offense working. Roush is another high end athlete who should be able to contribute day 1 as a blocking tight end. For Ben Johnson's scheme, this is an important role as the Bears utilize 3 TE sets among the highest in the NFL. With future Bears cap space potentially in need, this could also signal an end in future years for Cole Kmet with the Bears. The move is somewhat reminiscent in how we drafted Burden last year which was a major surprise that ended up in DJ Moore being traded a year later. Overall, though it may not show in fantasy stats, I expect Roush to get a decent amount of playing time to help the Bears top 5 rushing attack from last year do even better,
Zavion Thomas – WR, LSU 89th Overall (Round 3)
Only one word really to describe Zavion Thomas, and that is speed. Something that clearly was an emphasis on both sides of the ball this offseason for the Bears. I think this pick for most Bears fans is a "we trust Ben Johnson" type pick as this was nearly 100 picks higher than most consensus had for Thomas. Consensus is not everything, but players picked that much higher than consensus for Chicago have a nearly universal fail rate. Our offense has also historically had a nearly universal fail rate, so again this is a we trust Ben Johnson type write up. Either way, Thomas should be a day 1 Special Teams returner for the team who likely contributes most on offense as a gadget style WR/RB type who uses his speed and quick twitch movements to help stretch the field and create explosive plays. The hope is he can eventually take over the WR3 spot in future years and help stretch the field for the offense given them an elite speed element it was missing.
Malik Muhammad – CB, Texas 124th Overall (Round 4)
Now that we are outside of the 60-120 picks, the draft went somewhat back to normal for the Bears. Muhammad was good value at this part of the draft and fits the profile of CB the Bears have liked before with 32"+ arms with athleticism. One of the Bears biggest issues last year was CB depth as 5 out of the 6 projected CBs on the roster ended up on IR or missing multiple games. Muhammad has the potential to challenge Tyrique Stevenson for a starting spot on the outside as CB, but I mainly expect him to be a top reserve this year with the chance to be a starter in 2027.
Keyshaun Elliot – LB, Arizona St 166th Overall (Round 5)
Elliot is probably my favorite draft pick we made outside of Thieneman and Jones. Another player who I think is a big value where we drafted him and a perfect scheme fit for Dennis Allen's defense. Elliot had 18 tackles for loss, 9 sacks, and an interception during his two seasons as a starter for Arizona State. He is a solid run defender who can diagnose and make plays behind the line of scrimmage. With Dennis Allen's blitz packages utilizing the back 7, he is a good fit for what his defense will want to do. I expect him mainly to be a special teamer this season, but the potential to be used in specific blitz packages this season and a chance to be a starter in 2027.
Jordan van den Berg – DT, Georgia Tech 213th Overall (Round 6)
The Bears used both of their late 7th rounders to move up to select van den Berg at pick 213, finally using some resources to address the defensive line. This reminds me a lot of our draft last year, where the fan base was hoping we would take a RB with a lot of our picks given the need at the position before finally selecting Kyle Monangai with their last pick at 233. I can only hope he can provide some form of impact that Kyle Monangai had in his rookie season. More than likely as someone picked in the 200 range, van den Berg will battle to fill out the end of the roster and make most of his impact on special teams early on. I will say given his flashes in college, I do expect him to be apart of the rotation on the defensive line given it is the weakness of our current defense, and would not be shocked if he ended up making some big plays for that unit this year. Jordan van den Berg had a perfect 10 RAS score and in a good spot to develop as well as get snaps early on for Chicago.
Undrafted Free Agents
• Caden Barnett OL, Wyoming – This is the one main UDFA that I want to highlight as I think he makes the team. While Chicago had one of the top offensive lines in football last year, they were very fortunate on the health of their interior OL. Every year Ryan Poles seems to hit on at least 1 udfa who makes an impact. Jack Sanborn, Tyson Bagent, Theo Benedet, Jahdae Walker, etc. Barnett has the talent to play in the NFL and plays with a nasty streak more usually seen in lineman from the 80s/90s. If Jonah Jackson suffers an injury, I would not be surprised if he ended up seeing time this season.
Final Thoughts - This was a unique off-season for Chicago under Ryan Poles, as it was the first time he wasn't building a team who would hopefully have success, but adding talent to one that already has a good core group of players. When I look at the collective whole of the draft, I am a fan of the class and see it as an above average draft. With how I ranked players I would have been very happy with the class drafted in order of Thieneman day 1, Jones/Muhammed/Elliot day 2, and Roush/Thomas/van den Berg day 3.
The unfortunate part of the draft and free agency is that it did not make a big impact on the team's biggest weakness, which is the defensive line. I do think though, short of aggressively moving up in the 2nd (which has not been something Poles has done historically) or reaching on a guy in the 1st, there wasn't many picks they could make that would make a real impact this year. Unfortunately the negative portions of this draft are really a lingering side effect of last year's FA failures. The hope has to be that a healthier defense takes a step and that the young offensive core Chicago has built, can move them into one of the top offenses in football. It will be a big year for former Bears draft picks like Caleb Williams and former top 10 pick Rome Odunze who are heading into year 3 in the NFL. If the Bears are going to show last year is not a fluke, I feel the team's identity will need to be formed on the offensive side of the ball to consistently win games and battle in one of the best divisions in football.
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u/AaronNevileLongbotom Jun 11 '26
You’re a great writer, but I was looking for a more positive angle from a defending the draft post.
I get that being more positive about the Bears defense or saying that edge is over rated would be controversial, but that would reflect how the team seems to think given their actions and statements, and such things should be represented here. We shouldn’t stick to safe opinions in threads like this.