{"id":868989,"date":"2026-04-18T07:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868989\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T07:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:51:19","slug":"final-chicago-bears-2026-mock-draft-what-the-tea-leaves-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868989\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Chicago Bears 2026 Mock Draft \u2014 What The Tea Leaves Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL draft is less than a week away. It feels like the appropriate time for one more Chicago Bears<\/a> 2026 mock draft. This time, there won\u2019t be any exploring of ideas and scenarios. I plan to take all the breadcrumbs from the past couple of weeks regarding the team and piece together a draft that projects what they\u2019re hoping for. None of my personal opinion is in this. We are basing it entirely on what the Bears have signaled and what their preferences are regarding types of players.<\/p>\n

As we all know, the draft is unpredictable. There will likely be some selections ahead of the Bears at #25 that nobody sees coming. The lack of quarterbacks should create some serious chaos. Will general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson use it to their advantage? Let\u2019s find out.<\/p>\n

This Chicago Bears 2026 mock draft reflects how they want it to go.<\/p>\n

Trade: Bears trade 25th pick to Patriots for 31st pick and 95th pick<\/p>\n

1st Round (via NE) \u2013 Max Iheanachor, OT, Arizona State<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd25 Subscribe to the Untold Chicago YouTube channel<\/a> to hear Chicago legends tell stories you\u2019ve never seen in headlines \u2014 real moments, real experiences, straight from the athletes themselves.<\/p>\n

A lot of people aren\u2019t wild about the idea of taking a tackle this early. Here are the facts. Ozzy Trapilo suffered a very bad knee injury that isn\u2019t easy to recover from. His long-term status is unknown. Braxton Jones and Jedrick Wills are both coming off season-ending injuries and were struggling before that. They\u2019re also on one-year deals. This team needs an alternative. Iheanachor is big, athletic, tough, violent, and learning remarkably fast for somebody so inexperienced. He has the body and movement similar to Darnell Wright. There is no question that he can be a legitimate left tackle.<\/p>\n

2nd Round \u2013 Gabe Jacas, EDGE, Illinois<\/p>\n

Another reason the Bears feel comfortable waiting to address the defensive line is that they will have good options in the 2nd round. Jacas is a perfect example. He doesn\u2019t possess any one special quality, but he has solid size, great power, and is an above-average athlete. His background as a wrestler also shows in his ability to shed blockers on his way to the quarterback. He is a good fit for Dennis Allen\u2019s system and brings them some desperately needed juice on the edge.<\/p>\n

2nd Round (via BUF) \u2013 Gracen Halton, DT, Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Did I say we were done? One could argue that the interior pass rush has been the bigger problem for the Bears in recent years. While the 2026 draft doesn\u2019t have any can\u2019t-miss types in that category, Halton is one who has all the skills for it. He has great snap anticipation, a good first step, and lower-body explosiveness. He\u2019s shown he knows how to shoot gaps and fight through blocks to make the quarterback uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

3rd Round \u2013 Logan Jones, C, Iowa<\/p>\n

The exit of Drew Dalman hurt. There is no getting around it. Chicago was forced to surrender a valuable draft pick to bring in a temporary stopgap. Garrett Bradbury is fine, but he isn\u2019t the future. Jones is another classic Iowa guy: tough as nails, strong, mobile, and technically proficient. His blue-collar mentality should immediately appeal to Johnson and offensive line coach Dan Roushar.<\/p>\n

3rd Round (via NE) \u2013 De\u2019Zhaun Stribling, WR, Ole Miss<\/p>\n

This Bears 2026 mock draft isn\u2019t concluding without a receiver. The team has made it clear they plan to take one at some point, and they\u2019ve been paying extra attention to Stribling. It isn\u2019t hard to see why. He\u2019s big, strong, runs hard after the catch, runs solid routes, and is a violent blocker when he has the mind to. He was a big part of the Rebels\u2019 playoff run last year. There is no doubt that Coach Johnson would love him.<\/p>\n

4th Round \u2013 Kamari Ramsey, S, USC<\/p>\n

Maybe the team would\u2019ve preferred to address safety sooner, but the board didn\u2019t fall their way. Still, it worked out pretty well. Allen likes his safeties to be interchangeable, moving from free to strong and even to nickelback. Ramsey showed he could do that at USC. He plays the run well, improved his tackling considerably, and is athletic enough to handle his duties in coverage.<\/p>\n

7th Round (via CLE) \u2013 Vincent Anthony Jr., EDGE, Duke<\/p>\n

There is no law that says you can\u2019t double-dip at a key position. Anthony has the dimensions needed for a 4-3 end. He\u2019s 6\u20195\u2033, 258 lbs, and boasts 34-inch arms. His burst is solid, and he shows the agility to bend the edge without losing momentum. The big concern is power. He\u2019s been pushed around in the run game and doesn\u2019t have any bull-rush moves. He\u2019s a worthwhile flier with some building blocks to work with.<\/p>\n

7th Round \u2013 Khalil Dinkins, TE, Penn State<\/p>\n

Losing Durham Smythe to free agency was unfortunate. The Bears haven\u2019t really replaced him behind Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet. So they decided to bring in Dinkins. His numbers aren\u2019t anything special, but that is because Penn State never really took the time to develop him. He\u2019s a good athlete with reliable hands and the necessary tenacity to block. He must get stronger and start refining his game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL draft is less than a week away. It feels like the appropriate time for one more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-868989","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\/116424626369036274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868989","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=868989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}