The Chicago Bears ran countless simulations trying to get a feel for which players had the best chance to be available at their 25th overall pick on Thursday night. Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman popped up maybe half the time at best, meaning the odds weren’t great that he would be there. However, things took a turn when the Minnesota Vikings passed on him at #18. They were considered the likeliest landing spot. Suddenly, the Bears realized Thieneman might get to them. When he did, there was elation in the draft room.
Few expressed it more than head coach Ben Johnson. That may sound odd. Johnson is an offensive guy by nature. Getting excited about a defensive prospect seems unusual. However, Poles told the story of how Johnson watched Thieneman’s tape for the first time. The reaction was immediate and telling.
“I can now feel Ben,” Poles said. “He doesn’t say anything.”
That happened when Johnson joined Poles and his personnel staff to watch some film of upcoming draft prospects. One of the players who was queued up that day was safety Dillon Thieneman.
“I can feel (Johnson’s) body language start to get excited by somebody,” Poles said. “You can feel it. It’s that style of play (Thieneman) has that’s contagious. It’s the type of player that we want on our football team.”
Johnson has always been somebody who isn’t afraid to show his emotions. As a true football nerd, it’s only natural he’d get excited while watching tape. Yet the best part of this is that the Bears’ head coach immediately recognized how good Thieneman is. It turns out his eye for talent isn’t exclusive to just offensive players.
Ryan Poles continues to show an unheralded virtue.
That is a willingness to mold his scouting strategy to the needs of his coaches. This is not something that was present with previous Bears general managers. Phil Emery famously took Shea McClellin in the 1st round in 2012, despite obvious signs that he was a poor fit for Lovie Smith’s defense. Even more egregious was what Ryan Pace did in 2017. He purposely kept head coach John Fox in the dark about his plan to take not only a quarterback in the 1st round, but one Fox didn’t even like. We saw how that went.
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That isn’t the case with Ryan Poles. He made it clear from the beginning that he would take the head coach’s desires seriously in every draft. The selections of Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, Gervon Dexter, and Tyrique Stevenson all proved as much. Unfortunately, that approach doesn’t help if the coach has a questionable eye for talent. While the Bears added some solid players in that time, they didn’t grab any studs. All of that seemed to change once Johnson arrived to take over.
Thieneman is a perfect encapsulation of Johnson’s vision.
We’ve learned a few things since the head coach took over last year. He likes players who are smart, experienced, and fast. Colston Loveland checked those boxes last year, coming out of Michigan. Thieneman did as well. Johnson is a tape junky. He doesn’t care about athletic testing or interviews. If you want to know whether a player will be good, watch the film. That directive seems to have permeated throughout Halas Hall. Private visits have become less about getting to know players they like and more about learning about players they’re skeptical of.
Since Johnson arrived, the Bears have not drafted a single player they’ve met for a top 30 visit. Thieneman furthers that streak. They had a formal visit with him at the combine and kept their interest quiet after that. However, it became obvious to Ryan Poles that he was the guy after watching film of the safety with Johnson a few months ago. The head coach was on board almost immediately. All they needed was enough luck for him to drop to the #25 slot. The rest is history.
