The Chicago Bears are the hardest team to predict going into the 2025 draft, at least in the top 10. Nobody knows for sure where they’re focusing their efforts. Mock drafts have been all over the map, pinpointing at least half a dozen different names. GM Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson haven’t offered any definitive idea of where the team is leaning. This has forced people to lean on local and national insiders for any potential breadcrumbs. One difficult question is central to this.
What will the Bears do if the top non-QB prospects are off the board?
This is in reference to running back Ashton Jeanty and tight end Tyler Warren. Both are considered the two best skill-position players not named Travis Hunter in this draft. Experts believe they will likely be gone by #10. At that point, what will the Bears do? Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune pretty much revealed, without being too obvious, what their plans are if that happens. He circled two positions that seem to have their attention with just over a week to go.
That brings us back to this question: OK, what’s the plan at No. 10 if it’s not an offensive tackle? First, I would want to investigate edge rushers. Let’s assume Georgia’s Jalon Walker is off the board. How do the Bears feel about his teammate Mykel Williams or Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart?
The Chicago Bears remain focused on the line of scrimmage.
That is a good thing. Every year keeps showing that teams who control it tend to win the most. Poles and Johnson have already put in tons of work on both sides of the ball. Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, and Jonah Jackson significantly upgrade their interior offensive line. Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo help fortify their defensive front. That said, questions remain. Left tackle Braxton Jones is coming off a broken ankle and is in the last year of his contract. Odeyingbo is good, but most don’t see him as a legitimate #2 option across from Montez Sweat. A solution to either problem can be found at #10.
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Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. The biggest names at each position who could be available have question marks.
Left tackle:
- Will Campbell – Significant length concerns
- Kelvin Banks – Length and technique issues
- Josh Simmons – Serious knee injury
Edge rusher:
- Mykel Williams – Inexperienced and average production
- Mike Green – Significant off-the-field concerns
- Shemar Stewart – Minimal production despite elite traits
Any one of those guys has the talent to become an excellent NFL player. The issue is that they also have red flags that make it easy to see them as major busts. This is the minefield the Chicago Bears must navigate if clean options like Jeanty and Warren are off the table. Not ideal, but at least the team is focused on the positions that matter most.
There have been a few great Left Tackles in the NFL who were RTs in college. The most notable was Anthony Munoz from USC who is considered to be the best ever at the position. Munoz also had GMs concerned about his senior year injury prior to the draft. But, obviously, his selection by the Bengals ended up being a leap of faith that was totally worthwhile. He was the rock on two Super Bowl teams. Who knows if Josh Simmons, recovering from injury, might also have a great future. OR maybe the concern about shorter arms or height isn’t… Read more »
Wright played 13 games at LT for the Vols. (Sorry about responding to my own post but by the time I came back and looked it up it was too late to edit the post below.)
The possibility of Membou has me thinking. Could Wright be moved over to LT and allow Membou to play at RT? I can’t recall if Wright ever played on the L side in college. He’s pretty athletic and has pretty good feet. It might be kind of late in the game for trying to move him but I could see if Membou is BPA they might come up with something.
I can’t think of any player in this draft without obvious red flags. You put these QB’s into last years draft and none would be top 10 picks and almost all3 would be not be 1st rounders at all. There’s a group of 4-6 players that seem locked in to be top 7 picks, but that doesn’t mean they’re without red flags. There’s no draft where the 1:10 pick is without red flags
Bears are at the precipice looking, or ready, to fall down, down, down.
Trade up for DE Abdul or RB Jeanty. Problem solved.
Stay at #10 for RB Hampton, a premium RB, but not as good as RB Bijan Robinson that I lobbied for two 2 2 years ago.
See, the Cairo win against the Packers was a two-edged sword. Sad, but true, ever so true. Truth does not blush.