dawhizz

The two real problems with trying to put together a mock draft of what you think the Bears might actually do are (1) they really seem to be committed to, for the most part, going BPA, and (2) Poles just has guys he falls in love with based on vibes which I think pushes them up their board beyond where they might otherwise be, like Hyppolite last year, Travis Bell, etc. I can think, like TJ Parker is better than Dani Dennis-Sutton (for instance) but if they have calls with those guys or visits and one makes a better impression than the other based on attitude, loving football, preparation, etc., I feel like, for better or worse, that matters to this staff.

I subscribe out of habit to the Bob McGinn Go Long series with the scouts quotes just for the month before the draft, even though he could be making up these quotes at this point.

I feel like moving to 43 is a little too far but I would like something like that Jets deal.

I guess it depends on the DT. Like I said above, I don't really think this draft is good for the type of DT that Dennis Allen seems to prefer - it wouldn't have to be Aaron Donald but even guys like Walter Nolen, Calijah Kancey, Byron Murphy, Bryan Bressee, or Jer'Zhan Newton would be great fits for what Dennis Allen wants and would be good theoretical end of first round targets. But the guys likely to be there and worthy of the pick are Banks (questionable 3T fit, not a lot of production, and several foot issues), Peter Woods (quesitonable 3T fit who seemed to get worse last year), and Kayden McDonald (pretty clearly more of a NT than 3T). Now, if the Bears wanted to pivot and take a bigger NT guy, I wouldn't actually have a problem with that - I think the Bears run defense last year was at least as much of an issue as their pass defense and getting a run stopper would make some sense, but that's not what the history of Dennis Allen defenses suggests they would do.

I just don’t think this is a good “smaller, pass-rushing DT” draft if that really is what we’re looking for. While Banks and Wood’s seem to have some of the tools, neither has really done it well at the collegiate level. The next wave are more NT run defense types (McDonald, Hunter, Miller). There are maybe a couple more middle round guys who fit the bill (Halton, Durant, maybe Proctor) but really think that’s why we saw the Bears get a bunch of guys who fit the mold they are looking for in free agency (Gallimore, Street, Lynch) and maybe they don’t even go DT in the draft, see what these guys do, and reassess next year.

Not “my guy” yet, but if you are looking for this year’s Hyppolite pick that Poles might fall in love with, this might be the guy:

He makes a ton of sense IMO given the offseason focus on speed. I’m of the opinion that CB is (or should be) very much in play as early as the first given that our CBs are pretty much all question marks due to performance and/or coming off injured seasons. Also add Brian Parker from Duke to the visits list. College tackle that looks like a center convert, similar to what Graham Barton did coming out of Duke. In playing the middle rounds where we will probably get a center at some point.

Interesting that the Bears had a top 30 visit with DT Kayden McDonald from Ohio State. That doesn’t really fit the traditional Dennis Allen DT mold since he’s more of a big run stuffer than the smaller quicker guys he has seemed to prefer in the past but given the Bears issues stopping the run last year I wouldn’t be opposed. Plus he’s supposed to be pretty quick for his size.

But they met with a lot of their draft picks too. I remember Hyppolite went in for a visit and I think Frazier did too. Burton is interesting to me - lots of college experience and high RAS. Could go higher than expected.

Did a big trade down and another somewhere along the way. Feels like there’s not much difference between the edge we get at 25 and twenty spots lower. Feels like this puts the Bears in pretty good shape.

Seems like with three at least potential in-house LT options (Wills, Braxton, and Kiran) and Ozzy hopefully coming back next year, I very much doubt LT is in play in the first for the Bears.

Seems just a little rich to me, but I’m sure Ben has a a plan for him. Wonder how much more Deebo goes for . . .

Revisiting the terrible and unnecessary decision to give Jonah Jackson an extension because he sure hasn’t been good so far this year.

Caleb seems pretty far down the list of Bears problems at this point. The INT was inexcusable but otherwise he’s making plays and has been victimized by penalties and drops.

This team is indistinguishable from last year’s team. Worth noting that with four picks in the first two rounds so Frye draft to use to get better, so far today two were inactive for the game (Turner and Trapilo) and Burden and Loveland have 0 targets.

It's out: https://www.chicagobears.com/video/scouting-the-future-inside-the-bears-2025-draft-1920-football-drive Some immediate takeaways: You always get the impression that "this is exactly what we wanted to happen" in these videos, but there's not quite as much video from prior to the picks here, so there is some wiggle room here where you don't see the clear "I hope he's still there in a few picks" that we did with, say, Odunze. There is a quote somewhere early day 2 where they say "we're staying at [pick] 39", which seems to contradict report that they tried to trade up to 38 to take Treyveon Henderson. Maybe that quote was from after the trade attempts fell through, but it doesn't really feel that way. There is a place where Poles pretty clearly maps out: we want another pick to hit LB, DB, RB, and OG for day three, which is exactly what they do, so it certainly seems like, for whatever reason, they didn't see edge as as much a need as pretty much everyone else did. It's funny when they take Hyppolite, Poles is like "are they going to have highlights for him?" recognizing that he might be seen as a reach.

I’d really rather we see what we have with these new guys before signing them to an extension. I had the same problem with the Jonah Jackson extension. I understand doing it, but imagine if we’d taken the same approach with Chase Claypool.

I do think there are sometimes concerns with lineman being too tall for guard because of your center of gravity and how it plays into leverage inside, so that could be a hindrance conceptually for Trapilo inside.

Also, on the LT front, it's worth noting that instead of starting Jake Curhan, Doug Kramer or (when healthy) Teven Jenkins/Ryan Bates at LG, we are starting All-Pro Joe Thuney. Having that level of player next to you at LG and being able to trust that he's going to do his job and help you with your job should take a little bit more off the plate of the LT than we have had in recent years. Not saying that LT isn't still crucially important, but an offensive line works best as a unit where players trust each other, and I'm cautiously optimistic to say that after years of not having that, we might actually be at that point now.

Also, while Monangai is smaller than Montgomery (5’8 211 v. 5’10” 222), their 40 times and 10 yard splits are virtually identical (Monangai is 4.6/1.54 and Montgomery was 4.6/1.55).

Sound alike there may have been attempts to trade up to take Henderson and Skattebo. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bears/2025/04/29/bears-treveyon-henderson-draft-trade-rumors/83347231007/

. . . The Bears behind the scenes draft video this year. I’m assuming they do one because they do such a good job and they are really popular. But there’s so much speculation about the Bears getting sniped on their picks, like wanting Kelvin Banks or Treyveon Henderson, or Cam Skattebo. Are we going to be able to use Bright in the videos? Will they cut around it? Was it all fake news and it turns out they got guys they actually targeted? Eagerly waiting for it to drop.

I'm definitely interested in someone figuring out why no one knew about half the 30 visits that the Bears had. Seems like most of the guys they took said in their media roundups that they had 30 visits with the Bears, and yet literally none of them were reported. How does that happen, exactly? Did Poles actually tell people to keep quiet or try not to have certain visits publicized, even if it wa a projected day three pick? is the Bears beat just not keeping tabs? And why did some get publicized and some didn't? And it even seems like there were some that were reported, like Tyler Warren, but then Greg Gabriel said it didn't actually take place. Seems like Burden didn't even come in for a visit but ended up being the pick in the second round. And yet another guy like Ruben Hyppolite, who wasn't even projected to be picked by a lot of people, had a 30 visit and yet no one reported it. Hard to believe keeping that quiet was necessary but maybe it was. I don't think there were reports on TreVeon Henderson coming in for a visit, and yet a lot of people seem to think he was the pick in the second round before the Pats took him one pikc ahead of the Bears. So, was he a target or wasn't he? Very strange to try to sort through after the fact.

Not particularly impressed by this batch of UDFAs but let’s see what they show.