The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears ranked 29th in the league in yards allowed per play in 2025. They were in the bottom third of the league in nearly every major defensive category.
And with three picks on Day 2 of the draft, they selected three offensive players.
General manager Ryan Poles, as he has, stuck to his board. He drafted Iowa center Logan Jones despite the Bears trading for center Garrett Bradbury. After trading back, he took Stanford tight end Sam Roush, even though Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet are locked in as the top two tight ends. Then the Bears concluded the night at No. 89 by taking LSU wide receiver Zavion Thomas after they signed Kalif Raymond to be the No. 3 wideout.
Coach Ben Johnson’s fingerprints were all over Day 2, and the Bears did what they intended to do this draft: add competition.
“That’s the goal with all the picks that we have here,” director of player personnel Trey Koziol said.
Playoff teams can select players in early rounds who might not start right away but can take over the position in coming seasons. They can feel good about that because of the depth on the roster and the returning talent.
Are the Bears there, especially with some of the holes on defense? Or was this also a situation where they could only control what they could control, especially with the defensive ends?
“It’s really how the board shook out,” Poles said. “We made that turn into (Round) 2, we had a good sense through our research that that was going to kind of be a hot spot at the very top of (Round) 2. It wasn’t really possible to get up that high without giving up a ton. And at the end of the day, we just follow the board.”
Five defensive ends went off the board in the first 13 picks of the second round, with the last one being Zion Young to the Ravens at No. 45, 12 picks ahead of the Bears.
They added a Day 3 pick in the fifth round, and Poles did say they can find edge rushers on Day 3, but this also means they’ll be counting heavily on their returning players.
“(Austin Booker’s) coming along with Dayo (Odeyingbo), (Montez) Sweat, Shemar (Turner). We feel good about those guys,” Poles said. “Obviously we have one more day, so we can continue to add. But we like what that group is and what they’re becoming, and we feel like there is some developmental upside, and like I said yesterday, with Year 2 in the system, we should be able to take the next step.”
If they hit on their Day 2 picks, they have their starting center for 2027 and beyond, a No. 3 tight end and special teamer who could take the No. 2 spot down the line, and a new return man who can eventually be the No. 3 receiver. Those are some “ifs” that don’t include what they got in Round 1 with safety Dillon Thieneman, a player who will definitely start this season.
Center of the future?
The Bears hosted several centers for 30 visits at Halas Hall, including Jones, who started 51 games at Iowa. That opened Jones’ eyes to what he could bring to Johnson’s offense.
“He loves to run the football, especially outside zone, which is awesome,” he said. “That’s exactly how I’ve been taught and what we did. Meeting with him, he likes to put a lot on the center’s plate, which is awesome.”
Poles called Jones a “high-character guy, really smart, fits our scheme … explosive, has great range to reach and cut off.”
Jones will learn from Bradbury and will likely be the team’s top backup at center, with the goal of taking over next season, as there’s one year left on Bradbury’s contract.
Get ready for ‘13 personnel’
The biggest surprise of the night was Roush. Adding a No. 3 tight end seemed like something for the late rounds, but instead it came at pick No. 69, traded to the Bears from Tennessee.
There’s little doubting Roush’s traits and football acumen. He played at Stanford. His father played at Duke, his grandfather played nine seasons in the NFL, and his great uncle was Merlin Olsen, a 14-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Famer.
“I bring a physical presence to the field when I’m on it,” Roush said. “I want to make an impact in every possible aspect of the game. Obviously, as a rookie coming in, like, I’m playing a lot of special teams, I want to make an impact doing that. I think in the run game, I can be a huge value. That’s something that I pride myself in a lot, is my blocking and ability to kind of get on people and wear them down throughout the game.”
The Bears did have to replace Durham Smythe, who played more than 25 percent of the snaps last season. The offense finished seventh in the league in plays run out of “12 personnel” with two tight ends on the field, and fifth in three-tight-end sets.
“I think if you ask (Johnson), the more the merrier in that tight end room, right?” Koziol said. “I think the nice thing with Sam is that he’s got the versatility to play both in-line and off the ball. So now all of a sudden, you’ve got three versatile tight ends who can each do a little bit of everything. We always talk about adding competition to the room, but it really adds a lot of versatility into the offense.
“It’s rare to find a tight end coming out of college that has the size and strength to hold up at the point of attack while also having the athleticism to be a threat in the pass game. So if you can find one of those and then combine it with the intelligence and the football character that Sam has, adding competition and versatility to that room is huge.”
Speedy, gadget player in Round 3; where’s the fit?
Poles noted the new kickoff rule and how Thomas can be a weapon there. This might make Bears fans shudder — a third-round pick used on a returner, as Poles acknowledged it takes time for receivers to learn Johnson’s offense.
“He’s fearless back there,” assistant director of college scouting Francis St. Paul said. “He’s the one that’s not afraid to catch the ball and take it to the house. Obviously, he has the speed to take it the distance, but he has the ability to make people miss. And even though he’s a shorter guy, he’s strong. I know you guys have seen that play against Vanderbilt where he broke those seven tackles and scored. He can do that in the return game as well.”
But when Thomas does get on the field, Johnson will find ways to get the ball in his hands.
“This guy is going to be a weapon,” St. Paul said. “This is one of the guys that Ben, when he saw the tape, started doing his little rocking, and you could tell he was really excited about him.”
That was the theme of the second night of the draft — players who fit exactly what Johnson wants in his offense. He’s earned some cachet that we haven’t seen previously for head coaches in Halas Hall. Trust Ben Johnson, right?
Each player individually makes sense based on football traits and character. It’s the depth chart that’s the question mark, with one more night for the Bears to improve their defense.
