{"id":749627,"date":"2026-02-13T16:17:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T16:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/749627\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T16:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T16:17:18","slug":"nfl-links-chicago-bears-to-all-american-dt-ahead-of-2026-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/749627\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL links Chicago Bears to All-American DT ahead of 2026 Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A highly-rated defensive tackle for the Ohio State Buckeyes has been linked to the Chicago Bears by the NFL\u2019s analyst. This is ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft, which will be held April 23 to 25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>The Bears are looking to build on an impressive run in the 2025 NFL season under head coach Ben Johnson. In Johnson\u2019s debut season, the Bears won their first playoff game in 15 years. They also finished with an 11-6 record, clinching the NFC North title for the first time since 2018.<\/p>\n<p>With all that over, the Bears now turn their attention to the upcoming NFL draft, wherein they will be selecting No. 25 in the first round. One prospect that should be on their radar is Buckeyes defensive tackle Kayden McDonald.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-157453\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202560%201707'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"Kayden McDonald, Ohio State Buckeyes, Chicago Bears\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/USATSI_27709597-scaled.jpg\"\/>Ohio State Buckeyes defensive tackle Kayden McDonald (98) watches from the sideline during the NCAA football game against the Michigan Wolverines.<br \/>\nKayden McDonald, a potential draft pick for the Chicago Bears<\/p>\n<p>McDonald, a 6-foot-3, 326-pound defensive tackle, is widely projected to be a late pick in the first round of the draft. He entered Ohio State as a four-star recruit and had a top-12-ranked DT from North Gwinnett High School in Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>In high school, McDonald finished his prep career with 46 sacks and 131 tackles for loss. He also contributed offensively in short-yardage situations. With the Buckeyes, he worked his way into the defensive line rotation and played in all 16 games during the 2024 CFP championship run.<\/p>\n<p>In Chad Reuter\u2019s latest mock draft for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/three-round-2026-nfl-mock-draft-jets-land-impact-defender-qb-in-round-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL.com<\/a>, he has the Bears picking McDonald 25th overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Bears are looking for a defensive tackle to control the line of scrimmage, so they are thrilled to see McDonald available here,\u201d Reuter wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The NFL describes McDonald as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/prospects\/kayden-mcdonald\/32004d43-4441-1150-8b23-7d300cdf4ff2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">talented run defender<\/a> who plays with natural leverage. His overview also stated that he quickly locates ball-carriers, plays off blocks and rallies to the action. Aside from McDonald\u2019s exploits on the field, he was also named OSU Scholar-Athlete twice. He also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1733\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202560%201733'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"Chicago Bears Super Bowl LXI conspiracy theory surfaces\" class=\"post-image\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/USATSI_24679709_168419782_lowres-scaled.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        Chicago Bears Super Bowl LXI conspiracy theory surfaces<br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicitysports.com\/chicago-bears-super-bowl-lxi-conspiracy-theory\" class=\"read-more\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tFor More Great Chicago Sports Content<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLGY9QowgMXbAg?hl=en-US&amp;gl=US&amp;ceid=US%3Aen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"349\" height=\"108\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20349%20108'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-10.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Get the latest Chicago sports news, analysis, and breaking stories on the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, White Sox, Sky, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLGY9QowgMXbAg?hl=en-US&amp;gl=US&amp;ceid=US%3Aen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google News<\/a>, so you never miss a story on your favorite Chicago teams.<\/p>\n<p>Follow us on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chicitysports23\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@chicitysports23<\/a> for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/chicagosports247\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE <\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A highly-rated defensive tackle for the Ohio State Buckeyes has been linked to the Chicago Bears by the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,2201,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-749627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicagobears","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-kayden-mcdonald","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116064226395713412","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}