Day 81 of the Chicago Bears offseason. Ah, Friday. You’re back! Nice to see you again.
I was reading through this Josh Edwards piece at CBS Sports in which the author tries to place 2026 NFL Draft prospects into the overrated, underrated, overdrafted, and underdrafted categories. caught my attention because there was a pair of players who had been connected to the Bears in the pre-draft process. OVERRATED: Edge rusher Cashius Howell falls into Edwards’ “overrated” bucket despite being a top-50 prospect on his rankings because mock draft projections have the Texas A&M product going higher than expected for a player whose arms measure on the shorter side of things. I can understand Edwards’ concerns, but Howell being a standout performer at a premium position likely means some team will look past measurements and hope the production translates to the next level. OVERDRAFTED: Another edge defender, Miami’s Akheem Mesidor, gets placed in the overdrafted bucket. Edwards cites age concerns, noting that while Mesidor isn’t a bad player, his profile isn’t traditionally one that teams use a first-round pick to snatch. Again, playing a premium position will often make teams look past things. But with that in mind, the Bears should proceed with caution if they choose either of these prospects. One player who jumps on my radar because of this post is Auburn’s Connor Lew, whose ACL injury in October dropped his draft stock — possibly to a place where the Bears can take advantage. A quick skinny from Edwards on Lew:Lew quietly sank into the background of draft conversations, given that he suffered a torn ACL in October. When healthy, Lew was the odds-on favorite to be the first center drafted and a likely top-40 overall selection. There is a bit of Tyler Linderbaum to his game. He will likely not be available for the start of the season, and that will hurt his draft outlook. A team willing to wait on him returning to full health could get a steal somewhere on Day 2, especially if they will ask him to use his movement skills and engage in space.
All things considered, Lew has the type of profile I’d be willing to roll the dice on as someone who uses the 2026 season as a redshirt year behind Garrett Bradbury before ushering him into the starting lineup in 2027.BN BEARS ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook | Twitter | BlueSky
© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Dan Duggan, who covers the New York Giants for The Athletic, digs deep on the Dexter Lawrence trade request. In this must-read post, I found this passage to be enlightening:The timing of Lawrence’s request suggests he wants a raise more than a trade. If a new destination is his top priority, it would have made more sense to push for a trade before free agency when team coffers were full, and draft picks were flying around. And Lawrence’s desire for a lucrative new contract shrinks the market of prospective trade partners after teams have drained their free-agent budgets.
Even though it feels like the trade request is a ploy to get some more cash from a Giants team that is flush with cap space in 2027 ($66.923 million) and 2028 ($204.134 million), this is still a situation worth monitoring for the Bears because you just never know when the switch will flip from using a trade request as a negotiation tool to using it as a vehicle for a one-way ticket out of town.THE BN BEARS PODCAST: Apple | Spotify | YouTube
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert points out that, for the first time in a long time, the Minnesota Vikings could use some depth at the running back and wide receiver positions. The top of the depth chart at both of those position groups looks fine to the naked eye. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison make for a nice 1-2 punch at wide receiver, but the rest of the depth chart leaves something to be desired. I like what the Vikes have at running back with Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, but both players in that tandem will become free agents after this season. After firing GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah earlier in the offseason, I am curious to see what Minnesota’s draft class looks like when the dust clears. Speaking of running backs on the draft radar, Pro Football Talk’s Myles Simmons reports that Indiana University’s Kaelon Black is taking visits with the Vikings, Packers, Patriots, Jets, Panthers, Raiders, Colts, and Texans. The first five teams in that grouping are on the Bears’ list of opponents in 2026. Black ran for 1,040 yards and scored 10 touchdowns for the Hoosiers’ national championship-winning squad. NFL Draft analyst Lance Zierlein has the IU product (by way of James Madison) projected to be a Day 3 pick in the Rounds 5-6 range. Maybe this is one of those “better late than never” situations, but it is fair to wonder why it took six years of running on the treadmill of mediocrity and irrelevance for the Reinsdorfs to pull the plug on the AKME experience.MORE BEARS FROM BLEACHER NATION: Go Ad-Free | Subscribe to the BN Newsletter
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