How Ben Johnson’s Tilted Draft Approach Is Right Out Of The Parcells Playbook

Unless you’re just being stubborn, it has become apparent over the past two offseasons that there is a new sheriff in town. Ryan Poles is still the general manager of the Chicago Bears, but his roster power has shifted. Head coach Ben Johnson is the man with the final say on personnel matters. Multiple team insiders have confirmed it. If that weren’t enough, it isn’t hard to see the shift in the Bears’ priorities since he came on board. A lot of it is great. Johnson is putting more focus on high-level competitors, seeking players who really love the game. Violence and intelligence are two keys. None of this is bad.

However, there is one growing concern arising from the 2026 draft. Is Johnson favoring the offense too much?

The Bears have made eight picks in the first three rounds over the past two drafts. Six of them came on the offensive side of the ball. On the surface, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Johnson is an offensive-minded coach. It would make sense he’d want to stack that side of the ball with talent. Some just feel this favoritism is coming at the cost of the defense, which ranked 29th last season. The fear is that this approach may ultimately hurt the team in the long term. It is hard to win championships when you’re constantly trying to outscore opponents.

Ben Johnson isn’t in uncharted territory.

There have been several NFL head coaches who wielded personnel authority on their teams. The interesting part is that many of them tended to go in the opposite direction. Offensive experts drafted defense high and defensive experts drafted offense high. Others tried to keep a relative balance. A good example is Dave Wannstedt. During his first two years in Chicago, where he had final say, he drafted three offensive players and three defensive players in the first three rounds. Is Johnson an outlier in this way?

Not exactly. One prominent coach who had no qualms about showing favoritism to his side of the ball was Hall of Famer Bill Parcells. When he gained that authority with the New York Jets in 1997, five of the six picks made in the first three rounds were defense.

He wasn’t alone. Mike Holmgren, fresh off winning a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, took over the Seattle Seahawks in 1999 and was given full personnel authority. He proceeded to do the same thing, grabbing offensive players with five of the seven picks he had in the first three rounds.

So is this style of drafting doomed to fail?

Well, no. Not entirely. Parcells’ two drafts didn’t amount to much aside from James Farrior, who would become a two-time Pro Bowler, but that was with the Pittsburgh Steelers because the head coach abruptly resigned in 1999. Holmgren had more success. Alexander became a league MVP and a central part of Seattle’s Super Bowl run in 2005. Jackson was a three-time 1,000-yard receiver. Steve Hutchinson, whom the coach drafted in 1st round in 2001, is in the Hall of Fame. Much of this comes down to a coach’s eye for talent.

We already saw last year that Ben Johnson is pretty sharp. Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, and Kyle Monangai all had excellent rookie seasons. So it might be okay to trust him when he went on that offensive spree on day two of the draft last week. Still, if his goal is to win a championship as he claims, he can’t keep neglecting the defense every year. Champions aren’t built through hope and luck. He isn’t an offensive coordinator anymore. His job is to build a team, not just an offense.