I love that the Bears are picking 25th. Every time I see that, it fills my heart with happiness as I remember Ben Johnson's first season in Chicago featuring a NFC North Division crown and a Wild Card win over the hated Packers. The only downside of all of those wins is the late Draft pick. I'll take it!
There's no doubt that the Bears roster is dramatically more talented than it was a few years ago. There's no question about QB1 (Caleb Williams), the primary pass catchers (WR1/2 Rome Odunze, WR1/2 Luther Burden III, and TE1 Colston Loveland), the top offensive linemen (RT Darnell Wright and LG Joe Thuney), or the cornerback room (thanks to the presence of Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, Terell Smith, Josh Blackwell, and Zah Frazier, assuming he'll actually be back). Despite the convincing answers to the questions above, there are plenty of remaining questions. Starting with the most important and working down, here's how I see them:
1. Who is bringing the juice on the defensive line? Hold this thought. We'll cycle back to it in a bit.
2. Just how injured is Ozzy Trapilo? Teams generally telegraph their thinking via the free agency period. The Bears were no exception. After Trapilo took half of his rookie season to get on the field, he turned into a plus starting LT as a rookie. It was awesome...until his patellar exploded. He'll miss all of the 2026 season as a result. So, GM Ryan Poles found himself needing a new answer at LT, but the extent of the question wasn't clear: does Poles need to find a new LT for 2026 OR does Poles need to find a new LT for good? Well, the answer from free agency suggests the former. Poles opted to bring back former starter Braxton Jones on a one-year deal, now another year removed from ankle/fibula surgery. Prior to the surgery, Jones was decent as a pass protector but he possessed superb mobility; in 2025, not so much. But there's reason to believe that Jones can have a much better platform year in 2026 with improved health. Poles retained reserve LT Theo Benedet and also added former Cleveland first-round pick Jedrick Wills. All of this suggests to me that Poles sees Trapilo as his 2027 LT, which further suggests that it's unlikely that Poles invests a significant 2026 Draft pick in a LT.
3. How important is safety in Dennis Allen's defense? While the Bears ponied up a huge deal for Coby Bryant to pry him away from Seattle (more on that deal below), they largely punted the other safety spot; Poles signed Buffalo's Cam Lewis to a modest two-year, $6M deal and brought back special teamers Elijah Hicks and Jaylon Jones on modest one-year deals. That's it for the room. Is safety so important that it justifies using a premium pick on the other starter, especially if one of my favorites like Toledo's Emmanuel McNeil-Warren or Oregon's Dillon Thieneman is on the board? Or is a mid-round target like Penn State's Zakee Wheatley or Arizona's Genesis Smith sufficient? The Bears will surely look to add a starter at safety, but at what cost?
4. Will Cole Kmet be a Bear in August? I think so. I think the front office and coaching staff really love Kmet. I don't. I've always been underwhelmed by him, and Loveland's arrival really brought to light the extent of Kmet's shortcomings. He's not worth an $11.6M cap hit this year, at least not to the Bears, but there's no other TE2 on the roster. If an exciting TE prospect is available in an attractive spot this weekend, could Poles select his new TE2 and ship out Kmet to offload his cap number? I sure would! But that requires Vanderbilt's Eli Stowers making it to #57 (I'm obsessed with Stowers). Stowers is stylistically quite different from Kmet, but he's a dramatically better athlete who can pair with Loveland and let the Bears live in 12 personnel with outrageous matchup nightmares for opposing defenses.
5. Does Johnson really care about WR3? The Bears will undeniably draft a wide receiver, but how important is the third man in the rotation? Any new WR will be well behind Odunze and Burden on the depth chart, and Johnson's former WR3 from Detroit, Kalif Raymond, reunited with his former coach to replace D.J. Moore. Raymond hasn't eclipsed 360 snaps in a season since 2022, so he's most likely suited for a WR4 role with Jahdae Walker behind him as WR5. But is WR3 coming in the second, third, fourth, or even seventh round?
6. Is the starting weak-side linebacker already on the roster? I think so. Devin Bush will start inside. T.J. Edwards will start next to him if Edwards is healthy, but Edwards' fibula exploded in January; counting on him seems dicey. Thankfully D'Marco Jackson returned after an excellent season in limited duty. Free agency also brought back Jack Sanborn to join 2023 5th Noah Sewell and his torn Achilles in December as well as flop 2025 4th Ruben Hyppolite II. It's easy enough to envision Sewell and/or Hyppolite being jettisoned if an exciting young LB falls into Poles' lap this weekend, but the value proposition is too low given the current value of NFL linebackers and the immensity of the assets that the Bears have already poured into the position group.
Those questions are all useful, and we're going to revisit question #1...in just a moment. But first, a look at the free agency period. Remember: there's no grade inflation here, so a C is average.
C Drew Dalman Retires
Ugh. Brutal. Dalman was amazing in 2025 and looked like a long-term core piece.
Grade: :(
Bears Trade WR D.J. Moore and #163 to Buffalo for #60
Nice. The three main Draft charts look at this trade a bit differently. Here goes:
- Jimmy Johnson Chart
- Bears Send: 26.2
- Bears Get: 300
- NET for Moore: 273.8 (equivalent to pick #63 (late-2nd))
- Chase Stuart Chart
- Bears Send: 2.2
- Bears Get: 8.5
- NET for Moore: 6.3 (equivalent to pick #85 (mid-3rd))
- Spielberger-Fitzgerald Chart
- Bears Sent: 419
- Bears Get: 925
- NET: 506 (equivalent to pick #137 (early-5th))
I mentioned in an earlier piece that the Spielberger-Fitzgerald Chart isn't useful for evaluating trades at all: no NFL team would trade a 2nd for a pair of 5ths as the Chart suggests. Nevertheless, let's say that Poles got an early 3rd for Moore. That's solid. Moore still passed the eye test for the most part in 2025, but he's clearly fourth on Caleb Williams' priority list.
Grade: B-
Bears Trade 2027 5th to New England for C Garrett Bradbury
Oof. There were a lot of folks praising this deal as the Bears acquired a center who has recently worked with young QBs in JJ McCarthy in Minnesota in 2024 and Drake Maye in New England in 2025. Counterpoint: those teams saw Bradbury with their young QBs and punted him. I am not a fan of Bradbury or of trading picks for players like this. This is akin to the Ryan Bates acquisition. Surely the Bears hope that Bradbury is their fifth-best OL; I don't like that.
Grade: D
Bears Sign S Coby Bryant to a three-year, $40M deal with $25.75M guaranteed
Two different pieces here. First, the player. Bryant is good. He just turned 27. He played 1,800 strong snaps over the past two years, and he's plus against the run and in coverage. But then there's the contract. Big. Time. Oof. The safety market was outrageously flooded, yet Poles jumped to the top. The Bears' 2025 starters both hit free agency and the combined AAV for Kevin Byard in New England and Jaquan Brisker in Pittsburgh is less than Bryant's with only one-year deals. Yikes! The verdict on Bryant: good player, terrible contract.
Grade: D+
Bears Sign ILB Devin Bush to a three-year, $30M deal with $21M guaranteed
Bush gets my least favorite type of a deal: a big, multi-year guarantee for a guy coming off of three straight one-year deals for $8.25M total. Bush was awesome in 2025 and appears to have fully resurrected his career, but the dollars are huge. Good player, risky deal.
Grade: C
Bears Sign DT Neville Gallimore to a two-year, $12M deal with $5M guaranteed
OK, this is really a one-year deal, but the dollars make no sense. Gallimore has never been good; he couldn't even make it through camp with the Dolphins in 2024. That's very recent. I don't know what he does well. He's probably DT5 if everything breaks right, and this is way too much money for that.
Grade: D-
Bears Sign LB D'Marco Jackson to a two-year, $7.5M deal with $3.625M guaranteed
This deal confused me, but finally, it was in the Bears' favor! Jackson was great in a limited role last year, and he comes with tons of experience with Dennis Allen. I thought he'd get something like Gallimore's deal on the open market. This is a strong deal.
Grade: A-
Bears Sign LT Braxton Jones to a one-year, $5M deal with $3M guaranteed
Superb work here. Jones is an awesome insurance policy, a former solid starter who commanded a very slight guarantee. He's an ideal bridge and the dollars are paltry for a real LT.
Grade: A
Bears Sign S Cam Lewis to a two-year, $6M deal with $2.75M guaranteed
Lewis lacks pedigree and has never been great, but he held up reasonably well in extended action in Buffalo over the 2024-25 seasons. This is a good insurance policy, too.
Grade: B+
Bears Sign DE Daniel Hardy to a two-year, $5M deal with $2.45M guaranteed
Hardy is a terrible DE, but he's truly elite on special teams. This is the going rate for a special teams stud. So be it.
Grade: C+
Bears Sign S Elijah Hicks, G Jordan McFadden, OT Jedrick Wills, DT Kentavius Street, S Jaylon Jones, DT James Lynch, and OLB Jack Sanborn to one-year deals
Cool. I do like Hicks and Jones being back.
Grade: C
It was a bizarre trip through free agency with some excellent deals (Jackson, Jones) and a real head-scratcher (Gallimore). On the whole, it's fine.
OVERALL GRADE: C
OK. We've taken a long time to get to this point. The condition of the roster is relatively clear: the offensive skill players are awesome, the offensive line is in good shape, the secondary is in good shape save for S2, the linebackers are solid...and the defensive line is in desperate need of a talent boost. But how will those spots be prioritized? It breaks on one question:
Why did the Bears move Shemar Turner to defensive end?
Full disclosure: I don't know! Turner was very bad in limited action last year, both inside and out. He was a healthy scratch through Week Two, then he played just 74 defensive snaps the rest of the way before suffering a season-ending ACL tear in Baltimore in October. But here's what stands out: before the Week Five Bye, Turner played 38 snaps, 33 of them at DT and five at DE. After the Bye, Turner played 36 snaps, all of them at DE.
Why? From my vantage point, there are three possibilities:
- The Bears think Turner stinks.
- This possibility would be disappointing for a rookie 2nd rounder. If it's the case, moving Turner was likely in an effort to jumpstart him, regardless of positioning. That would stink.
- The Bears decided that Dayo Odeyingbo stunk and they needed a different DE opposite Montez Sweat.
- Distinctly possible! Odeyingbo had a terrible season before tearing his Achilles the week after Turner's ACL tear. So, could Turner's move have been in an effort to push Odeyingbo to the bench? Maybe!
- The Bears decided that they like Turner better at DE than DT.
- Also distinctly possible! The Bears talked up Turner's history at DE, and he possesses the body type that Dennis Allen prefers on the edge.
- Turner's history plays in here, too. He was a 270 lbs. DE at Texas A&M before Nic Scourton arrive from Purdue in 2024. With Shemart Stewart at the other DE spot, Turner's path to playing time involved a lot of Chipotle en route to a 30-pound weight gain. If Turner is more comfortable at 270, he's a DE, no doubt.
As you can probably tell, I'm partial to option #3. What does that mean? Well, here's the DE group with Turner included:
- Montez Sweat
- Dayo Odeyingbo (when healthy)
- Austin Booker
- Shemar Turner
- Daniel Hardy
Hey, not bad! And the DT depth chart:
- Gervon Dexter Sr.
- Grady Jarrett
- Neville Gallimore
- Kentavius Street
- James Lynch
Hey, that's...oof, that's actually terrible. And, to make matters worse, Dexter is an impending free agent and Jarrett will likely be cut next March before he turns 34 in April, leaving just $4M of dead cap hit. That means the DT room is functionally empty 11 months from now.
Add it all up and here's how I see the Bears' needs entering the Draft:
- DT (by a mile)
- S
- C
- DE
- TE
- WR
- CB
- LB
- RB
- G
- OT
With that laid out, here are the players that I like for the Bears at the various Draft locations where the Bears currently have picks, with my absolute favorite players in bold.
- #25
- Clemson DT Peter Woods
- This placement comes with controversy. Woods was mediocre in 2025. Why? Maybe he's not as good as he used to be. Maybe his short arms were exposed. Or maybe it was the result of new DC Tom Allen pushing him out of his 3-technique role into two-gap jobs that minimized his skills. If that's the case and Woods is the plug-and-play stud 3-tech he appeared to be at this time last year, he'd be a massive steal at #25. I'd take that chance.
- Ohio State DT Kayden McDonald
- You have to be a star as a two-down player to justify a 1st-round pick. And McDonald is a superstar against the run. He'd be quite the salve for a defense that stunk against the run last year.
- Auburn DE Keldric Faulk
- Faulk is a lab-generated DE for DA. He's big, he's long, he's fast, and he's awesome against the run. He's underwhelming as a pass rusher, but he's also still 20. There's an enticing ball of clay here.
- Clemson DE T.J. Parker
- Parker is a good prospect. His 2025 was a huge disappointment, but if he was able to enter the Draft after his 2024 season, he'd be a top-10 lock.
- Toledo S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
- Man. I love EMW. He's an athletic freak and a true thumper with plenty of speed to be a star. He comes with tons of experience and production. I don't love the value of a S here, but EMW is so cool.
- Side note: I emailed my brother on December 29th when I started Draft prep and said this: "I only love two safeties in this class: Thieneman and McNeil-Warren. Getting either would be awesome. Getting both? I'd expect a lot of three safety sets for DA." That mock draft on PFF allowed me to take Thieneman at #57 and EMW at #89. Now that would be a dream come true!
- Oregon S Dillon Thieneman
- I loved Thieneman when I started my Draft prep months ago and he was pegged as a late-2nd. He's too good at football to last that long. He'd be a plug-and-play starter.
- Georgia DT Christen Miller
- I like Miller as a prospect. I don't love him. His physique is better than his football production, but there's a good ceiling here.
- Miami DE Akheem Mesidor
- Mesidor was the best DE in college football last year. He's also 25. He carries the heft that Dennis Allen wants. I don't now where to put him.
- Penn State G Olaivavega Ioane
- Also a luxury pick. Ioane is awesome. Could Thuney or Jackson play C in 2027 so Ioane could play G? Hmmm.
- Georgia OT Monroe Freeling
- I don't think that the Bears will take an LT. If they do and Freeling is there, he'll be the pick.
- Utah OT Caleb Lomu
- If not Freeling, then Lomu.
- Clemson CB Avieon Terrell
- My favorite CB with a shot to get to 25, Terrell is a great prospect at a position that isn't nearly as important as DT, S, or DE.
- Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq
- He's an athletic marvel. Too luxurious for the Bears, though.
- Florida DT Caleb Banks
- An athletic freak at a position of need, Banks has such a dreadful injury history that he just can't be the pick here.
- Missouri DE Zion Young
- He's long and rangy with adequate athleticism, but off-field problems and imperfect athleticism push his value way down. He'd be a reach at #25.
- Players to avoid:
- Texas A&M DE Cashius Howell: crazy short arms -- he needs to play in a 3-4
- Alabama LT Kadyn Proctor: terrible fit for the Bears
- Georgia LB CJ Allen: a solid LB, he's not worthy of a 1st and doesn't offer good value here
- Any WR (asset allocation concerns)
- #57/#60
- Penn State DE Dani Dennis-Sutton
- A perfect fit for the Bears as a rangy, hyper-athletic edge with tons of collegiate production. He likely needs to add a bit of weight, but not a ton. If the 1st rounder is a DT, DDS is firmly atop the list here.
- Illinois DE Gabe Jacas
- A good prospect. He's a pure pass rusher at this point who needs to get a lot better against the run.
- Iowa State DT Domonique Orange
- Big Citrus would be fun. He's a massive human being who would surely help the Bears' run defense in a big way.
- UCF DE Malachi Lawrence
- Lawrence may not have enough size to play DE for the Bears. If not, he's out. If yes? He's a freakish athlete with long arms, so sign me up.
- Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers
- Positional value be damned. I love me some Stowers. He'd form a devastating receiving tandem with Loveland.
- LSU S A.J. Haulcy
- An LSU safety who is good and experienced? Yes please!
- Iowa OL Gennings Dunker
- An excellent RT in college for the best offensive line who projects as an interior OL in the NFL. If he can play C, he'd be near the top of this list as a versatile backup in 2026 while he learns C.
- Arizona S Treydan Stukes
- His position is unclear, but his athleticism isn't. He's a superb athlete who has played all over the field.
- Oklahoma DT Gracen Halton
- An incredibly quick part-time player with short arms, Halton is an undersized rotation piece as an interior pass rusher. He will not help the run defense.
- Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- A poor man's Luther Burden III. Williams gets open by being quick and precise. He's undersized and I worry about his run blocking, but he's a plus member of a passing offense.
- Georgia WR Zachariah Branch
- Branch is tiny, but he's incredibly twitchy with remarkable production: he turned 93 targets into 81 receptions this year. Wow! As a bonus, he's already hauled in 32 collegiate passes from Caleb Williams.
- Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez
- Everyone loves him and he tested way better than expected.
- North Dakota State WR Bryce Lance
- Crazy athlete. Extremely productive. FCS player who doesn't look as fast on film as he tested. Very interesting prospect nonetheless.
- Players to avoid:
- Florida State DT Darrell Jackson Jr.: he looks so bad to me for a crazy athlete
- Northwestern OT Caleb Tiernan: makes me sad, but he looks much too stiff to play OT in the NFL
- Michigan DE Derrick Moore: what if Lawrence was less athletic?
- Texas Tech DE Romello Height: lighter than Leonard Floyd
- Cincinnati DT Dontay Corleone: He's a fun story, but the arms are very short and there's lacking quickness.
- #89/#129
- Southeastern Louisiana DT Kaleb Proctor
- It's easy to fall in love with the small school guys. It helps that Proctor (i) showed elite athleticism in his testing, (ii) and showed out against LSU in a real game. He's undersized at 290 lbs., but no crazily so.
- He's basically the only DT I like in this range.
- Penn State S Zakee Wheatley
- Tons of production, tons of experience, and plenty athletic. This is a good spot for him and the Bears. He's a turnover machine.
- Iowa C Logan Jones
- A great zone scheme fit. An Iowa C.
- Florida C Jake Slaughter
- Just as good as Jones, except he didn't play at Iowa.
- Auburn C Connor Lew
- A great looking prospect who tore his ACL last fall. Very young.
- Kansas State C Sam Hecht
- There's basically no gap between Hecht and Jones. All four of these guys are good prospects.
- Duke OT/C Brian Parker II
- The next Graham Barton? Not that good but the price will be much lower.
- USC S Kamari Ramsey
- A good, rangy player.
- Arizona S Genesis Smith
- A good, younger prospect who appears to be ascending.
- Texas LB Anthony Hill Jr.
- Crazy athlete at a good spot.
- Ohio State TE Max Klare
- Yet another option for a crazy pass-catching TE tandem with Loveland.
- Florida OT Austin Barber
- Probably a swing tackle, but there's lot of experience and surprising athleticism here.
- Boston College OT Jude Bowry
- It wouldn't hurt to go back to the BC well when hunting for an OT, right? Bowry does look similar to Trapilo.
- Washington CB Tacario Davis
- Reminds me a Zah Frazier with his rangy frame. Coming off of some rough years.
- Missouri DT Chris McClellan
- Looks like just a guy, but the Bears need a few guys.
- Texas S Michael Taaffe
- Not a great athlete, but looks like a football player, would play special teams, and has captain material if he can stick on the field.
- Alabama DE LT Overton
- Probably a run-stopping DE for the Bears.
- Texas TE Jack Endries
- Not a crazy athlete, but an experience, productive TE in a true in-line role.
- Alabama OLB Deontae Lawson
- A solid LB prospect.
- TCU WR Eric McAlister
- He looks good enough.
- Michigan TE Marlin Klein
- Below Endries and McAlister, but he's a pretty solid prospect.
- UConn WR Skyler Bell
- I wanted to like him a lot. Instead, he was...fine.
- Players to avoid:
- Auburn DE Keyron Crawford: man, he just looks skinny.
- Georgia State WR Ted Hurst: crazy fast, but I dislike everything else about how he moves.
- #239/#241
- Ha!
Alright, time to wrap this up with a final mock draft. Let's go!
Bears trade #25 to Miami for #30 and #75
This is the kind of trade that I could see the Bears making. The Dolphins? Not so much. But dropping just a bit while there are a ton of DL on the board is a good choice. (Miami came up for Kaydn Proctor. OK, maybe they could).
#30: Clemson DT Peter Woods
Perfect. This is a bet that Woods is still an awesome 3-tech forced into a different job in 2025 through no fault of his own. I made the pick even though there were seven trade offers. Seven!
#57: Illinois DE Gabe Jacas
This pick came down to Jacas or Dani Dennis-Sutton. DDS is a better run defender. Jacas is a decidedly better pass rusher. Gotta get that QB!
Bears trade #60 and #239 to Philadelphia for #68 and #98
There were a ton of CBs on the board here that multiple teams wanted, but I wasn't one of them. This drop was sensible to turn a 7th into a 3rd.
#68: Iowa State DT Domonique Orange
Big Citrus, let's do this! Orange is a bet that his 2025 ankle injury sapped what could have been a huge year. If not, his backslide was perplexing. Still, there aren't a ton of people this size on the face of the planet.
#75: Auburn C Connor Lew
Lew is coming off of an injury and I just ranked him behind a few other available centers above. But dang, Lew is three years younger than Slaughter and Hecht and four years younger than Jones. Let's let him recover behind Bradbury and take the job in 2027.
#89: Penn State S Zakee Wheatley
Good size, decedent athleticism, and tons of experience. I hate that he's 24, but Wheatley is a plug-and-play starter at this pivotal spot. Cool.
#98: Mississippi WR De'Zhaun Stribling
I'm very surprised that PFF has Stribling outside of their top-100 prospects. Stribling has good size and tested extremely well. He is old, but his production was strong and there's plenty to like here.
#129: Texas TD Jack Endries
I found myself approaching this pick thinking "man, I really hope Endries or Klein makes it here." Well, here we are! Endries is a perfect addition to the TE room as TE3 in 2026 and TE2 in 2027 and beyond.
#241: Iowa WR Kaden Wetjen
I saw Wetjen score a touchdown. He's very fast, he's old, and he's OK at football.
Here's my proof:
QB (3): Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum
RB (3): D'Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai, Roschon Johnson
TE (3): Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Jack Endries
WR (6): Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Kalif Raymond, Jahdae Walker, De'Zhaun Stribling, Kaden Wetjen
OT (4): Darnell Wright, Braxton Jones, Ozzy Trapilo, Theo Benedet
G (3): Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, Kiran Amegadjie
C (2): Garrett Bradbury, Connor Lew
DE (6): Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, Austin Booker, Shemar Turner, Gabe Jacas, Daniel Hardy
DT (5): Grady Jarrett, Gervon Dexter, Neville Gallimore, Peter Woods, Domonique Orange
ILB (1): Devin Bush
OLB (4): T.J. Edwards, D'Marco Jackson, Noah Sewell, Ruben Hyppolite
CB (6): Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson, Josh Blackwell, Terell Smith, Zah Frazier
S (5): Coby Bryant, Cam Lewis, Elijah Hicks, Jaylon Jones, Zakee Wheatley
SP (3): Cairo Santos, Tory Taylor, FREE AGENT
This roster is a bit underwhelming at RB. I think that Sewell will get cut with an injury settlement. Luke Newman loses his spot. The team has 24 players on offense, 27 on defense, and 3 on special teams; if Sewell comes out, we're back to the right number.
The defense gets a lot of help via this mock, but there's plenty for the offense to like, too. Go Bears!
