The Chicago Bears have spent the better part of the last few seasons playing catch-up. Cap space, roster holes, and the financial flexibility to address both defined that phase of the build, and General Manager Ryan Poles used it accordingly, stabilizing the roster and constructing a functional environment to develop quarterback Caleb Williams.
That phase is over. Or at least, it should be.
What this offseason has made clear is that the approach has shifted. Poles is no longer building from the ground up. He’s managing a roster with a core in place, and the goal now is to sustain it. In the NFL, that distinction almost always comes down to one thing: how well you draft.
The Bears took a meaningful step in that direction last April. Colston Loveland, Luther Burden III, Ozzy Trapilo, and Kyle Monangai all contributed as rookies, and the class has the look of one that will produce multiple long-term contributors.
© Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesThe challenge now is doing it again.
And again after that.
Because the financial reality of what’s coming (extensions for Darnell Wright, Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, and eventually Burden and Loveland) means the margin for error in free agency is only going to shrink. Starters on rookie-scale deals aren’t a luxury at that point. They’re a necessity.
That’s the backdrop for everything that follows. Below, you’ll find my final mock draft of the 2026 cycle, a second exercise we ran live on the BN Bears Podcast this week with Matt and Luis, some thoughts on Ben Johnson’s role in the draft room, and a conversation about whether the Bears should be looking to move up tonight rather than back. The draft opens in Pittsburgh tonight, and Chicago is on the clock at No. 25.
A final mock draft (and some thoughts on it) …
My final mock of the cycle is the 4.0, which I ran through the new BN Mock Draft Simulator with trades active. You can find individual pick breakdowns in the full mock draft piece published Wednesday, but here’s how the board fell, and why I’m reasonably comfortable with how it shook out, even if it didn’t go exactly where you might expect.
The trade logic was straightforward. Chicago came into this draft with two second-rounders, their own at 60, and 57 acquired from the Bills in the DJ Moore deal this spring. I moved 57 to Miami for picks 75 and 87 in the third round, turning one second into two thirds. Later, I flipped the fourth-rounder acquired from the Rams to Tennessee for a pair of fifth-rounders at 142 and 144. Both moves follow the same premise: volume over position, as long as you’re not giving up real equity to get there.
After taking McNeil-Warren at 25 (a no-brainer if he’s on the board), the simulator pushed me away from defense and toward offensive line and skill positions. Caleb Tiernan at 60, Antonio Williams at 75, and Sam Hecht at 87. It colored a little outside the lines relative to what Bears fans probably want to see. But best player available is how I believe Chicago will operate this weekend, and the board dictated those picks. Gracen Halton at 89 got me the defensive interior presence I wanted, and he’s a genuine scheme fit for Dennis Allen.
Edge rusher ended up in the seventh round with Quintayvious Hutchins, which I understand is going to raise eyebrows. Here’s the honest answer on that: Dayo Odeyingbo is still on the roster with money attached, and Austin Booker’s 2025 return from injury was encouraging enough that the building believes in him. That doesn’t mean more edge help wouldn’t be welcome; it just means it didn’t happen in this simulation, and I don’t think that makes this a bad class. Nine picks, multiple starters in the conversation, and two trades that added picks without costing the Bears anything they couldn’t afford to move.
One final thought exercise with the BN Bears crew …
On Wednesday’s episode of the BN Bears Podcast, Matt, Luis, and I ran a live seven-round simulation through the BN Mock Draft Simulator, and it produced a class worth walking through.
We caught a break at No. 25 again. Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy was on the board, consensus had him going well before that range, and it was an easy call. Corner was a need anyway. From there, the board pushed us toward Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez at No. 57. He was the best player available when we were on the clock, and that was that. Moving our original second-rounder to Pittsburgh for picks No. 76 and No. 99 made sense as. So, we traded down from 60 to generate volume, and came away with Halton and fellow Sooner Deion Burks in the third.
We landed Florida center Jake Slaughter at 105, acquired via a trade-back with the Giants from 89, which also netted us the fifth-round pick used on Oregon tackle Isaiah World at 145. Slaughter could be the center of the future. World is loaded with unteachables, and the things that need cleaning up feel like exactly the kind of corrections that get made when you’re playing next to Joe Thuney every day with Dan Rouschar coaching you.
Nicholas Singleton at 129 is the same bet I made in the 4.0 — Penn State had a rough 2025, but Singleton’s size, speed, and track record put him in the same conversation as Notre Dame’s Jerimyah Love a year ago. He’s not a Week 1 answer at running back, but he’s a real answer for what comes after D’Andre Swift. The class closes with Lorenzo Styles Jr. in the seventh and Hutchins again at 241. Two exercises, same last pick. Make of that what you will.
How involved is Ben Johnson in the draft process?
When Chicago opened last year’s NFL Draft with the selections of Michigan tight end Colston Loveland and Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III, it felt like Ben Johnson had a loud voice in the Bears’ draft room.
On Tuesday, Bears assistant GM Jeff King was asked just how loud that voice is during a media availability at Halas Hall.
“Like all of us. We take his opinion and weigh it heavily,” King said. “What he thinks matters. He’s the head coach of the football team. He’s an offensive play caller. He has a good feel for the team, and we take that very seriously.”
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn ImagesThat seemed like an undersell when it was said, and longtime Bears insider Brad Biggs all but confirmed as much Wednesday during a hit on 104.3 The Score.
“He has set the tone in that building,” Biggs said. “They’re not going to pull the trigger on some draft pick of a player that he doesn’t want. He’s heavily involved.”
All of that considered, it’s pretty safe to assume that regardless of the consensus on team needs, Johnson is going to be playing a significant role in who the Bears draft this weekend. And given the success of his first go-round in the Chicago war room, that makes all the sense in the world.
We’ve talked a lot about trading back. What about trading up?
In all of the exercises we’ve done here at BN — whether individually in writing or together on the podcast — we haven’t explored the idea of Chicago trading up from No. 25 tonight.
My initial instinct is (perhaps was) no. The roster has too many glaring holes to compress the class, maximizing the number of starters and impact rotation players on rookie-scale deals is the single most important thing this organization can do right now, and the idea of surrendering 2027 draft capital (in what projects to be a significantly stronger class) gives me real pause.
But I’m not going to rule it out entirely, and the player matters enormously.
Luis flagged that ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has run trade-up scenarios throughout the pre-draft process, and the consistent price for Chicago to move into the teens has been No. 25 and No. 60. If Ohio State safety Caleb Downs is sitting in that range, I make that trade without hesitation.
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn ImagesFor Downs specifically, I could even stomach sending a 2027 second-rounder and No. 25 to a team around pick 10 to go get him. He’s that kind of prospect. I’d also gladly send 25 and 60 to a team in the mid-to-late teens for Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman, a player whose value and fit make the cost reasonable.
The appetite for moving up will vary depending on who’s available, how far Chicago would have to climb, and what the return looks like for the team selling. But dismissing the idea outright because of positional need would be short-sighted. The right player changes the calculus every time.
My initial thought was no way, but I think I could be swayed.
At some point this weekend, the Bears will hand in their card, and whatever happens after that is out of our hands.
But the stakes are clear enough. Detroit didn’t build its contender through free-agent splashes. It was built through consecutive draft classes that produced immediate, high-level contributors. The Chiefs have maintained their championship window the same way, replenishing the roster with affordable young talent while allocating premium resources to their core. The blueprint exists. The Bears know what it looks like.
Ben Johnson had a front-row seat to the Detroit version of it for years.
Chicago still has obvious needs — along the defensive line, in the secondary, and at left tackle. Some of those will get addressed this weekend. Some won’t. The board will do what the board does, and no mock draft, including mine, survives contact with the actual draft. What matters more than any individual pick is whether this class, taken as a whole, moves the needle the same way last year’s did.
Opening a contention window takes spending. Keeping it open takes drafting. The Bears have made their choice about which phase they’re in. Tonight is where that choice starts to pay off — or doesn’t.
Hence then, the article about before the bears are on the clock a final pre draft notebook was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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