The Chicago Bears were something of a surprise for the league this season. First-year Head Coach Ben Johnson turned a 5-12 team that finished last in the NFC North into a playoff-bound, 11-6 division champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Much of Chicago\u2019s success was built on an offensive revamp \u2014 fueled by great sophomore-season progress from QB Caleb Williams<\/a> and contributions from a strong rookie class. But a lot of the veterans who glued the Bears\u2019 defense together are now gone, and they\u2019ll need to find quick replacements to create a short-term championship window.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Bears Draft Picks:<\/p>\n Round 2: Pick 60 \u2013 from Bills\u00a0<\/p>\n Round 4: Pick 129 \u2013 from Rams\u00a0<\/p>\n Round 7:\u00a0Pick 239 \u2013\u00a0from Eagles<\/p>\n Bears Positions of Need:\u00a0<\/p>\n Safety: Losing Kevin Byard<\/a> and Jaquan Brisker<\/a> leaves Chicago\u2019s safety room wholly depleted, and although signing Seattle\u2019s Coby Bryant<\/a> fills a gap, they\u2019ll still need at least one more startable safety.<\/p>\n Linebacker: New acquisition Devin Bush<\/a> should gel in the middle of the Bears\u2019 defense alongside T.J. Edwards<\/a>, but they\u2019ll still be in the hunt for another off-ball linebacker to replace Tremaine Edmunds<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Edge: Austin Booker<\/a> is only 23 and showed progress last season, but with Montez Sweat<\/a>, the position group\u2019s headliner, coming off a down year, Chicago is seeking more sack production.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Key Targets for Bears:\u00a0Dillon Thieneman \u2013 S \u2013 Oregon<\/p>\n The Bears were torched from deep on numerous occasions last year, especially in the playoffs. Thieneman is a rangy prospect who helps them address the need for speed, and he has the ball skills to compensate for the loss of Byard\u2019s production in coverage. If the Bears can land him with the 25th pick, it would be a homerun of a selection.<\/p>\n Zion Young \u2013 EDGE \u2013 Mizzou\u00a0<\/p>\n Young is a relentless edge defender who can disrupt the backfield, get after the QB, and set the edge. He isn\u2019t afraid to dip his nose in the trenches and has a sky-high ceiling. The Bears could use all of those traits. Young would be another option at No. 25; ESPN\u2019s Field Yates<\/a> mocked Young to Chicago in a recent mock draft, suggesting there\u2019s a solid chance he\u2019s available.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Harold Perkins Jr \u2013 LB \u2013 LSU\u00a0<\/p>\n Perkins Jr started his college career as a positionally versatile, game-wrecking talent, but an ACL injury fully derailed an inconsistent 2025 season. But his rare ability to defend in the slot while also being dangerous as a blitzer could pique Ryan Poles\u2019 interest. As a fourth-round value pick, the Bears would be wise to draft him.<\/p>\n The post Chicago Bears Draft Guide \u2014 The Lead\u2019s 2026 NFL Draft Previews<\/a> appeared first on The Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Bears were something of a surprise for the league this season. First-year Head Coach Ben Johnson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[7240,374,1035,1036,692,391,2493,2873,11095,7,32189,4423,4861,8554,6,424,237,7402,7401],"class_list":["post-837774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-austin-booker","tag-bears","tag-ben-johnson","tag-caleb-williams","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicagobears","tag-coby-bryant","tag-devin-bush","tag-football","tag-harold-perkins-jr","tag-jaquan-brisker","tag-kevin-byard","tag-montez-sweat","tag-nfl","tag-rams","tag-seattle","tag-t-j-edwards","tag-tremaine-edmunds"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116303427453792559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837774","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=837774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}