Reacting so quickly following the NFL Draft can be tricky. Instead, Aaron Leming took some time to gather his thoughts on the Bears’ draft approach, and general manager Ryan Poles’ latest interview with ESPN 1000.
It might be hard to believe for some, but we’re already more than a week removed from the opening night of the draft. The NFL Draft is an event that builds up for months and is over in a matter of days. For most football fans, it goes by in a flash. Frankly, this entire offseason has been a whirlwind, especially for the Chicago Bears and their fans. Hiring new head coach Ben Johnson was just the beginning of a very active offseason for general manager Ryan Poles and his front office.
With the bulk of the acquisition period behind them, all 32 teams will turn their attention to their month-long offseason program, which will ramp up toward the end of this month. Right now, all activities are voluntary. Yet, for teams like the Bears, it’s all but mandatory with a new coaching staff that has been installing their own culture within the building. What might not seem like much to most fans is a considerable period for teams with new coaches and big roster turnovers.
Before we can fully turn the page on the draft and look toward rookie minicamp, let’s take a look back at the results of draft weekend, and some recent thoughts from Poles’ appearance on the Kap and Hood show in another version of Bears Takes.
1. Second-round tackle Ozzy Trapilo is going to get every opportunity to win a starting job.
Poles joined the Kap and Hood show on ESPN 1000 early on Thursday morning for a good Q-and-A about the draft, how he feels about the roster, and more. The 15-minute-plus interview was good, and in typical Poles fashion, he was very open and honest with his answers.
Since the draft concluded last weekend, there’s been plenty of speculation about Darnell Wright making the move from right tackle to left tackle. When asked directly about it, he touted Wright’s ability to play either side of the line, while acknowledging that 2024 starting left tackle Braxton Jones might not be ready until at least training camp. Although he never directly answered the question about Wright moving over to left tackle, he noted that their No. 56 overall pick would start on the left side. Poles specifically mentioned both Trapilo and last year’s third-round selection Kiran Amegadjie as competing at left tackle in OTAs and their mandatory minicamp.
While this doesn’t mean that Jones won’t be able to win his job back during training camp, the Bears have been clear from the beginning that this will indeed be a competition. At this point, I don’t view it as a knock on Jones. Despite some recent injuries, he’s well outperformed his fifth-round status from four drafts ago. The reality is quite simple, though. The Bears don’t want to be forced into “affording” a multi-year contract next year when he becomes a free agent. Their cap flexibility, while still in decent shape, won’t be nearly as fluid next year as it has been the last three offseasons. Considering that Dan Moore received over $20 million per year in March, there’s a strong chance the Jones’ price tag will eclipse that figure.
It’s clear the Bears think highly of Trapilo. After all, he’s got the flexibility to not only play either tackle spot, but he’s spent time inside at guard as well. Considering his height (6’8), moving him inside to guard would probably be a last resort at the NFL level. Even so, the flexibility to play both right and left tackle gives the Bears options. It doesn’t mean they’ve given up on Amegadjie after a tough rookie year, but they seem determined to provide Trapilo with every shot to win a job out of camp. How that happens remains unknown. He could come out and impress during OTAs and minicamp. An injury could occur in training camp. There are multiple different avenues to a starting job in Week 1, but the odds are in his favor if that’s where the coaching staff and front office are already leaning. This is by no means a guarantee of any sort, but usually, you can decipher what a team is thinking by what they tell the media. So far, it has seemed clear that they are high on the rookie, and sometimes, circumstances matter. With Jones coming off an injury and not expected to be ready until at least training camp, the door is wide open for a seamless transition from Jones to Trapilo. Now it’ll be up to the rookie to force the issue and win the job.
2. Despite not taking a running back until the seventh round, it wasn’t for a lack of trying in the opening rounds of last weekend’s draft.
Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer wrote a piece detailing the team’s efforts for multiple running backs. Even in the moment, it felt like the Bears just kept “missing” on targets. While I’m not sure how real the rumors were about the team looking to trade up for Ashton Jeanty, those hopes went up in flames with the Jacksonville Jaguars trading out of No. 5, and the Las Vegas Raiders took the Boise State product with the next pick.
The more realistic target was Ohio State speedster, TreVeyon Henderson. Some of you might recall Eddie George “spilling” the Bears’ draft plans in a sit-down, shortly after he interviewed for the team’s open head coaching vacancy. He highlighted both Ohio State backs as primary targets for the Bears, and there’s no reason to believe it wasn’t true. Throughout the draft process, different writers had reported a strong interest in Henderson. In many ways, I think that he was their most realistic Plan A target, because Jeanty falling to 10 was never going to happen.
Wiederer reported that the Bears had conversations with a few teams ahead of the New England Patriots at No. 38, and at one point, they thought they had a deal in place. Ultimately, nothing materialized, and the Patriots scooped him up one selection before the Bears’ first second-round pick at No. 39.
Two rounds later, they held pick No. 109. It appeared they would have their choice between at least one of Bhayshul Tuten or Cam Skattebo. In another unfortunate twist of fate, both players were selected before them, which led Chicago to make their second trade down with the Buffalo Bills quickly.
Despite a deep class, most of the top talent had run dry before the Bears’ actual selection in Round 4, which led them to take three other positions before finally selecting Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai with their final pick in the seventh round. I’m not going to be someone who counts him as some huge “steal” or places unfair expectations on a seventh-round pick. It seems clear the Bears missed on multiple targets, and sometimes, that’s just how the draft goes. Now, the Bears will have to pivot to other options.
3. Speaking of running back, general manager Ryan Poles says that they have a “shortlist” of external candidates. Regardless, don’t expect a move until the conclusion of the Bears’ offseason program in early June.
The list of free agent running backs is small and uninspiring. At the top of the lists are names like J.K. Dobbins (two years removed from his second torn ACL), Nick Chubb (a few months removed from a broken foot and a recently knee reconstruction), Cam Akers (hasn’t been the same since a string of serious leg injuries), and maybe someone like Jamaal Williams who experienced a career-year under Johnson in 2022.
There have been some loose ties with Chubb and the Bears, but at this stage, it’s hard to figure out what is true in some of these reports. For years, the former Cleveland Brown was one of the league’s elite rushers. He comes with plenty of medical baggage, including a pair of ACL tears, and most recently, a broken foot. He’ll also turn 30 this season, and might not have much tread left on the tires.
At this stage, I’m not sure there’s much benefit to the Bears racing out and signing a player from this current list of free agents. Especially when considering that names like Kenneth Walker III and Breece Hall have been floated as possible trade candidates. As Poles noted on Wednesday, he wants to give his new coaching staff a chance to work with the players currently on the roster. Chicago will have two series of full-team voluntary OTAs, a three-day minicamp, and then another three-day set of rookie OTAs to conclude their offseason program before a six-week break leading up to training camp.
If bigger names were remaining on the market, it would make sense for the Bears to act with more urgency. Although a conservative approach might lead to a player like Chubb going elsewhere, he’s far from a guarantee to make the roster at this point in his career. After all, he averaged just 3.3 yards per carry on 101 rushes last season. Patience should lead to better options, including cuts that may occur over the next three-plus months, leading up to rosters being finalized in late August.
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4. Even if drafting a tight end and wide receiver felt like glutinous picks in the early rounds (considering their other needs), don’t underestimate Ben Johnson’s plan for this offense.
When the Bears embarked on their 19-interview search to hire their next head coach, the goals were simple.
- Find the best leader.
- Who can maximize Caleb Williams?
- Allow the coach and his staff to have a bigger say in the roster.
While it’s understandable that fans would be skeptical of any moves the team makes, it’s best to trust Johnson and his coaching staff as they look to build this team into an NFC North contender. Part of that trust is giving them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to choosing their offensive personnel.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s a fact that drafting a tight end in the Top 10 is one of the highest bust rates over the last 15 or so drafts. It’s far from a safe pick. Many analysts and Lions fans questioned taking Sam LaPorta a round or two before he was projected. Sure, LaPorta was a second-round pick, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but the skillsets are similar, and so are Johnson’s feelings on the two players. Given the talent on the board at No. 10 overall, I’m convinced that either tight end was the “Best Player Available”, therefore making the pick understandable.
Round two’s selection of Burden likely came as more of a shock to most Bears fans. It was clear then, and it is now, that Henderson was their primary target with the No. 39 pick. Despite trade-up conversations, they couldn’t get something done, and ultimately, he went one pick before the Bears were on the clock. As Poles has pointed out a few times since that moment, sometimes the board falls your way and sometimes it doesn’t. I was higher on Kaleb Johnson than most, but considering the talent still on the board when they picked, he would have been a reach, based far more on need than anything else. Again, if you’re looking to make the argument that receiver wasn’t a bigger need than defensive end or another position, that’s fair, and I would agree. Still, it’s also easy to see why Burden was the top player on their board and why both Johnson and Antwan Randle-El are so thrilled to have him on the roster.
More than anything, these picks come down to fit not just in 2025, but in the foreseeable future. These two selections also don’t guarantee that players Cole Kmet and DJ Moore will leave Chicago during the 2026 offseason. There’s still plenty to learn about how Johnson wants to run his offense, and not every player develops at the same pace. If I had to guess, Loveland will be a big part of the offense in Year 1. Maybe not to the extent that LaPorta was in Detroit, but I expect him to outproduce Kmet in the end. That doesn’t need to be an indictment on Kmet, either.
5. Going into the draft, edge rusher was my No. 1 need for the Bears. It remains the same coming out of the draft. After listening to both Johnson and Poles, I’m not sure they feel the same. Expect a creative approach from new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
For all of the post-draft attention that running back is receiving, another edge rusher remains their most significant remaining need. Even if the Bears won’t put out an “unofficial” depth chart until their first preseason game, it’s not hard to start piecing things together when it comes to the defensive line. Montez Sweat and the newly signed Dayo Odeyingbo will start on the edges come Week 1 (barring injury). We’ll see what shakes out in the competition between the interior defensive line. Still, two of Andrew Billings, Gervon Dexter Sr., and the recently signed Grady Jarrett will be taking the bulk of starting snaps this season.
Shemar Turner was the last of the team’s trio of second-round picks last weekend, and although he’s listed as a defensive tackle, he gained 30 pounds in one offseason to slide inside at Texas A&M last year. Before that, he was a defensive end, and his production looked much better on paper.
When Poles was asked about Dexter and Turner playing on the edge in particular, he said that he expected them to see snaps there, but he would leave it up to Allen how he wanted to use them. As of now, former fifth-round pick Austin Booker would be the first man off the bench at defensive end. Even if you’re high on Booker’s future, there’s plenty of risk involved with that plan. The Bears could supplement some of this by using Dexter, or more likely, Turner on the edge part-time, but even then, injuries could quickly thin out that depth.
It will be interesting to see if the narrative changes at defensive end over the coming months. With names like Za’Darius Smith, Matthew Judon, Preston Smith, and Shaquil Barrett still on the market, it’s easy to see a scenario where they could snap up a veteran on another one-year deal for an affordable price. Either way, until I see a clearer plan, I’m going to have defensive end as a No. 1 priority before Week 1.