Our ranking of the 20 most important Chicago Bears of 2026 rolls continues.
We’re into the meat of the list now. If you’re joining, the premise is simple: This isn’t a ranking of the best Bears; it’s a ranking of 20 players on whom the team’s next step forward depends most. Eleven wins and a division title set the floor. We’re chasing the ceiling. And we’ve already discussed Nos. 15-20 here.
This tier is where the thesis earns its keep, because it’s where I’m sure you’ll find the single most contested call on the entire list. Let’s get to it.
No. 14 – LG Joe Thuney
Here we go. Joe Thuney is one of the best guards in football, and he’s ranked 14th on this list. On a talent ranking, he’s top five, easy. On plenty of “most important” lists this summer, he’s sitting near the very top. So let’s be clear about what this ranking is and isn’t saying.
This is not a talent ranking. Thuney will be excellent in 2026. And that’s exactly the point: excellence that’s already priced in isn’t what a step forward is made of. The Bears’ offensive line was good last season. Thuney being great again keeps it good. It protects the floor, and the floor is high. But the team’s ceiling doesn’t rise because a known quantity stays known. It rises on the variables, the leaps, the bets that haven’t paid off yet. Thuney is none of those things. He’s a lock, and locks are wonderful, and they also aren’t where the next step comes from.
If you take one thing from this whole series, take this: on a list about who moves the ceiling, the most reliable players sometimes rank lower than the riskiest ones.
Chicago Bears left guard Joe Thuney. David Banks-Imagn ImagesNo. 13 – DT Grady Jarrett
Jarrett is the veteran stabilizer on the interior of the defensive line, and his importance is a little counterintuitive. He’s not going to lead this team in anything splashy. What he does is eat snaps and hold up at the point of attack so the younger, more explosive interior players can be deployed the way the staff wants.
Pillar two is about the pass rush materializing from within, and part of that equation is having a reliable veteran who lets you manage the rotation without a drop-off. Jarrett is that guy. He fought through an early injury last season and played better down the stretch, and a full, healthy version of him in a well-defined role is a quiet enabler of everything the front wants to become.
No. 12 – CB Kyler Gordon
Gordon is central to this defense’s sub packages, and he’s also a live variable, which is why he’s higher than a couple of names you might expect. When he’s on the field, and right, he’s one of the more valuable pieces of the secondary, capable of covering the slot and doing the dirty situational work that makes an aggressive defense function.
The catch is the “when.” Gordon has dealt with soft-tissue issues this summer, and pillar four, the secondary holding up, runs directly through his availability. A healthy Gordon meaningfully raises the defense’s ceiling. A Gordon who’s in and out of the lineup drags it down. That range of outcomes, tied to a role that actually matters in January, is what puts him at 12.
Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon. © David Banks-USA TODAY SportsNo. 11 – RB D’Andre Swift
Swift is the engine of a run game that already works, and that’s both his value and the reason he’s not higher. The rushing attack was one of the best in the league in 2025, and Swift is a big reason why. On this list, though, “already works” is a double-edged descriptor. He keeps the offense’s floor high while the passing game does the climbing, and a top-tier run game is a genuine asset for a team trying to take a step forward.
But the step itself, the thing that turns a top-10 offense into a top-3 offense for the Bears, is a passing-game story, not a rushing one. Swift protects and complements the step. He’s essential to the operation and just outside the group of players who actively raise the ceiling, which in this range is exactly where the most important role players live.
No. 10 – LT Braxton Jones
Jones lands just inside the top 10, and he’s the highest offensive lineman on our list, which tells you something after we just put Thuney at 14. The difference is the variable.
Jones is—in all likelihood—protecting quarterback Caleb Williams’ blind side, and he’s doing it while in an actual camp competition, with Jedrick Wills Jr., Theo Benedet, and Kiran Amegadjie in the mix. That competition is the thing. A settled, secure left tackle situation is one less thing to worry about for an offense trying to operate on time and push its ceiling higher. An unsettled one is a real source of risk to the most important player on the roster.
Jones being the answer, and being a good one, matters more to the step forward than an interior lineman being great, because the blind side carries higher stakes and, right now, higher uncertainty. That’s why he clears the bar the others didn’t.
Chicago Bears offensive lineman Braxton Jones is in the running to start at left tackle in Week 1. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn ImagesThat’s Nos. 14 through 10. An elite guard we deliberately parked at 14 to make a point, a pair of interior and secondary pieces whose value is tied to health and role, the engine of the run game, and the blind-side protector who edges into the top 10 on the strength of an open competition.
Next up: Nos. 9 through 4, where the pass rush the front office refused to reinforce takes center stage, and the pass-catchers who have to pop start showing up.
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