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Courtney CroninApr 8, 2026, 03:25 PM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever and GameNight on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.<\/p>\n Multiple Authors<\/p>\n The 2026 NFL draft<\/a> begins on April 23 in Pittsburgh, when the Chicago Bears<\/a> will pick No. 25 in Round 1. The draft continues with Rounds 2-3 on April 24 and Rounds 4-7 on April 25 (ESPN, ABC and ESPN the app).<\/p>\n The Bears have seven total picks<\/a>: Nos. 25, 57, 60, 89, 129, 239 and 241. But how will they use them? Which positions need to be addressed? Which prospects are coming in for visits and getting buzz with the front office and coaching staff?<\/p>\n Bears reporter Courtney Cronin has the latest intel on the team’s draft plans, potential targets and more in the lead-up to the 2026 draft.<\/p>\n See more on the NFL draft Wednesday, April 8: Every mock draft you read, from ESPN analysts Mel Kiper Jr. to Matt Miller, has the Bears projected to take a pass rusher with the 25th pick, but left tackle Ozzy Trapilo<\/a>‘s injury and the uncertainty around his timeline to return could shift Chicago’s priorities in Round 1.<\/p>\n The Bears’ left tackle competition will feature Braxton Jones<\/a>, Jedrick Wills Jr<\/a>., Theo Benedet<\/a> and Kiran Amegadjie<\/a> — four players who haven’t logged consistent high-end play at the position in the last 12 months and could benefit from adding a top-tier rookie to the mix.<\/p>\n “I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good situation to where — much like last year — we can go into this draft and stay true to our board and not force any pick,” coach Ben Johnson said recently. “If there’s a (offensive) tackle or a defensive tackle or a D-end, I think we can go any direction we need to and stay true to that and feel pretty good about it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Courtney CroninApr 8, 2026, 03:25 PM ET CloseCourtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-861458","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-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116370786535860913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861458","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=861458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Latest mock drafts<\/a> | Prospect rankings<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/_end_rule.png\")
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