AZ54

Or players simply didn’t fall to them where they had them ranked. Or Luther Burden was simply too good to pass up. You can’t simply infer they like all of our RBs better and didn’t view it as a need.

I don't know that anyone can trust that based on what was seen last year from Kiran. I do know that coaches have had a little bit of time to be around the players before the draft. They'll have a feel for where Kiran is at physically based on workouts. They have tape on him from a couple games and college. IMO they bought an insurance policy. Not the best one either. There can also be some thought that we'll just primarily work Kmet on the left side whoever is there at LT. There's going to be a big question mark at this position until we see what happens in Week 1. Then we either have a full blown crisis or we settle down and start to see some decent offense.

I think I watched 5 plays of his highlights and viewed him as slow, stiff, and not very strong. If a DE is going to be that tight moving around he better bring the power.

Good point.

J.P. Richardson is pure slot WR. Has some quickness and should also challenge for the PS. There is nothing certain about the bottom end of our WR group although I believe Duvernay has the returner job locked up. Scott and Olamide Zaccheaus are far from locks. Richardson has better hands than both, adjusts to the ball well, and appears to be better at creating separation. On the flip side the veterans have more speed. Other than that we have the long snapper from Iowa to make our punter happy. Given all of our issues at LS last season who knows if he has a shot to win the job. For everyone else their career highlight will likely be the invitation to Bears training camp.

Jahdae Walker also has potential. Very poor production last year and I have no clue what was behind that. What stands out to me is his 3-cone drill time of 6.71, especially at 6'3". Usually those are the guys who can get in/out of their breaks fast. You can see that quickness on the highlight film too with the ball in his hands. Can he do all the other professional things it takes to be an NFL WR? He should compete for a PS slot. https://draftscout.com/dsprofile.php?PlayerId=1092035&DraftYear=2025

This safety should have a shot at being depth on the roster, or end up on the practice squad. He's not big but plays with the proper attitude. https://nfldraftdiamonds.com/2025/03/tysheem-johnson/

No thread this year. Kinda indicates our lack of desperation to find talent on the fringes on the NFL world, which is a good sign. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2025/4/26/24417474/chicago-bears-2025-undrafted-free-agent-news-and-rumor-tracker-udfa-nfl-draft These UDFAs are reported to have signed with the Bears. Jereme Robinson, DE, Kansas (link) Tysheem Johnson, S, Oregon (link) Jahdae Walker, WR, Texas A&M (link) Xavier Carlton, DE, Cal (link) Jonathan Kim, K, Michigan State (link) Luke Elkin, LS, Iowa (link) J.P. Richardson, WR, TCU (link) Power Echols, LB, North Carolina (link) Major Burns, S, LSU (link)

I like Harmon but he's very similar to Dexter and can't really bend so he's easy to avoid. Aside from that he's great at getting pressure up the middle. That would have been very welcome on our team. Kaleb Johnson is a good pick at RB. Jack Sawyer offers very little in pass rush, he's just going to be a rotational guy in the NFL with no starter potential IMO. That's ok as a 4th Rd pick but I think his name and school increased his theoretical value. The Bears have 3 players who will be contributing on day 1. We have future starting TE1 in Loveland with clear Pro Bowl potential. A likely starting WR3 this year in Burton (not much competition) with potential to become WR2 in the future and replace DJ Moore. Both positions were clear needs and both were good value picks. Ozzy Trapilo just feels like a backup swing OT or maybe a future starting RT. He's not a starting LT for sure. From a draft standpoint this one feels like a reach to me. However I do like the depth and competition we now have on the Oline. This reach I think confirms the end of the Braxton Jones era I just don't know the expiration date. I suspect the team is quietly hoping Kiran can win the job this offseason and Trapilo is just an insurance policy with the last ditch effort being to move Wright to the left side. I hope we never see Wright move. Shemar Turner I like quite a lot. We needed more depth at DT and pressure up the middle. He definitely will contribute this year and has potential to be a good starter down the road. With Grady and Shemar the energy level on the defensive front is going way up this year. Lastly...Pittsburgh has no QB.

I think there’sa link in Jacob Infantes story on Windy City gridiron.

Seems more like a Dennis Allen pick because after the draft Poles said DA wanted more speed at LB and this guy was on their list of targets.

DA said pressure on the QB comes from inside not the edges a few weeks before the draft. After I heard that I figured we'd be drafting someone who was more 3-tech than a 2-down run stuffer like Alfred Collins. Plus that pick might come at the expense of an edge rusher although I still wish we added to the DE ranks as well. Poles also said DA wanted more speed in the LB corps and so he got that in Rd 4.

After watching his introductory press conference this guy wasn't the most mature player in his early college career. I'm reading between the lines of what he said but IMO he struggled because he wasn't putting in the work either on the field or in the classroom. I think he's learned a lot in the last year (mostly his words) but I think he's going to get a big shock when he first lines up to cover DJ or Rome. I see him on the practice squad in year 1.

Hopefully yes that is true. When the only film you can find is the guy jumping out of a pool it doesn't work.

I think he's competition for Roschon for sure. I'm not that enamored with Roschon. I think Roschon has better receiving skills but he's not "good" in that category and while it's reportedly not seen on film it's possible Monangai showed similar skills in his workouts. He sure seems to be better at pass pro than Roschon. It's impossible to know what the team was looking for in a RB or rather who they wanted / where. Poles said they let the board fall to them and it sure looks that way from the outside. I also wonder if the team still has some hopes for Wheeler as a contributor. Which is my way of saying that A) they didn't view RB as an urgent need and b) once their top RBs were off the board they weren't going to worry about it at all. It was interesting to hear the new HC say he was impressed that the draft team worked the board so well and didn't fall prey to filling a need. Does Ben Johnson truly have a long term view on the roster? It's hard to say because the offense got a lot of focus early in this draft. We'll see what that looks like on the field.

Poles said way back in Feb Al Harris told him about Zah as good press corner prospect for the 4th or 5th round.

Legit depth player at the RB position and what little I've seen of him so far (below), I love how he pass protects. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2025/4/26/24418298/chicago-bears-nfl-draft-kyle-monangai-scouting-report

Exactly what I said... the move TE gets all the attention while the elite running game the Lions were known for ...nobody knows who that TE was.

The fact is our roster is much improved over the last 3 years. All top 4 picks would have been labeled as day 1 starters 3 years ago. Maybe not Loveland but he'd have been very close to starting over the version of Kmet that was entering the 2022 season. The RT, DT, WR... all 3 of those would have been starters in Week 1. I think the only likely day 1 starter position we could have drafted would have been a RB (several options) or LT had we chosen Banks. Even my guys like Grant, Williams, or Nolen would have been rotational players this year. I've waited years to get to this point and I'm not bothered at all by the fact these 4 picks have to go earn their playing time. Braxton Jones is going to be working out like never before. With this many RBs drafted I feel like there will be a decent FA option popping up soon...in a buyers market.

Future OC?

I doubt a 21 year old TE comes in and starts day 1 in Ben Johnson's reportedly complex scheme. He will contribute from day 1 for sure but TEs need to be in meetings with Oline and WRs. It usually takes dual role TEs a couple seasons to get it all down. Loveland's stats will get all the media and fan attention.

Been offline for a few hours. Saw this new thread and thought we made some massive trade up giving up lots of future picks .

Why Burden fell ... but I think he is in a good place to get the coaching he needs.

Poles admitted they had modeled 3 OTs going in the top 9 so he wasn't surprised by the fact it went down that way. My interpretation of this is if the team really felt LT was a critical need they'd have traded up somewhere to make that happen sooner. Either into the top 9 or back into Rd 1 early Rd 2 for someone like Simmons or Ersery. I suspect that means they really like Kiran's potential to be the starter and we drafted a swing OT in Rd 2 to compete with Jones/Kiran. I could be wrong too if they think Kiran is the backup IOL. We'll know soon when we get reports out of OTAs.

Unless there is something from next year's draft we haven't yet seen but yeah this doesn't seem good for us.