If there was one pick in the 2026 NFL draft that had Chicago Bears fans upset, it was Zavion Thomas. It wasn’t just the fact that they were taking a wide receiver after already grabbing a center and tight end with their two previous picks. People had been hoping the team would invest more on defense. Yet what made it worse was that many experts felt Thomas was no more than a 6th or 7th round prospect at best. So, to take him in the 3rd round looked like a massive reach by Bears general manager Ryan Poles.

It was Velus Jones all over again. Poles took the former Tennessee receiver earlier than he should’ve in 2022. Now he’s doing it again. However, is this actually true? Based on what Sports Mockery insider Jeff Hughes heard from scout friends in the league, it wasn’t a reach at all. If the Bears hadn’t taken him when they did, another team likely would have a few picks later.

This was later confirmed by ESPN insider Field Yates. He told Waddle & Silvy that a person he trusts in the league called him, insisting that Thomas was ranked way too low on his top-150 prospect rankings.

Zavion Thomas went at the going rate.

Since 2010, there have been nine wide receivers who ran a sub-4.3 in the 40-yard dash who were drafted to the NFL. Three went in the 1st round. The majority of the rest went somewhere between the 2nd and 4th rounds. That is the general range where superfast receivers go. It isn’t like the Bears did anything that other teams haven’t done for years. Speed is a precious commodity in this league. You can’t teach it. That is why it is worth taking a player earlier in the draft, even if he’s more unproven.

So why Thomas specifically? Head coach Ben Johnson described the reasoning. It wasn’t just about the speed. It was about the versatility.

“He’s got a unique skillset, just in terms of, he’s a 4.2 guy. Those guys don’t grow on trees. It’s easy to look at when it flashes up and everyone sees it, but yet when you turn on the tape, it’s more than just being able to run deep routes. The versatility that he showed – both at Mississippi and LSU – from the backfield, whether it’s running routes, or getting handoffs, and then the returning aspect of it. I think it all adds up.”

It isn’t a secret that Johnson loves to use his players like pieces on a chessboard. One must maneuver them around until you reach checkmate. Thomas has the kind of extensive skillset that allows him to create matchups in almost any situation. Go back and look at how Kalif Raymond impacted the Lions from 2022 to 2024. He was a solid third receiver, an occasional rushing threat, and a great returner. Thomas could do the same.

Besides, it’s not like the 3rd round has been good to the Bears.

That area of the draft has been a constant source of pain for this organization going back several years. In the past decade, only one player drafted in the 3rd round became a viable starter on the team. That was David Montgomery in 2019. Outside of that, it was a lot of awful.

• 2024: Kiran Amegadjie (OL, Yale, Pick 75)
• 2023: Zacch Pickens (DT, South Carolina, Pick 64)
• 2022: Velus Jones Jr. (WR, Tennessee, Pick 71)
• 2021: No 3rd round pick
• 2020: No 3rd round pick
• 2019: David Montgomery (RB, Iowa State, Pick 73)
• 2018: No 3rd round pick
• 2017: Adam Shaheen (TE, Ashland, Pick 45) 

Truth be told, they’ve had some decent fortune at wide receiver in that range. They selected Bernard Berrian in 2004 and later grabbed Earl Bennett in 2008. Both ended up becoming solid contributors on some good teams. You could argue Zavion Thomas is more talented than both of them, and he has a far better head coach to guide his development. The pick may have been unexpected, but that doesn’t means it wasn’t justified. Chicago acted on what they felt was good information, and they were right.

The 1st round didn’t unfold as many expected for the Chicago Bears. For weeks leading up to the event, everyone believed the team was focused on one of two positions. Either they’d take an edge rusher or an offensive tackle. Both were obvious needs, and the class had some good options. However, with them sitting at 25th overall, the danger was there that both positions would be picked clean. Sure enough, over the first 24 selections, no fewer than six offensive tackles and five edge rushers were selected. Thankfully, the decision on what to do wasn’t difficult for general manager Ryan Poles. Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman was still on the board to the shock of many. The card was turned in without a second thought.

Several experts had believed Thieneman had a case for being the best safety in the class thanks to his rare mix of size, athleticism, and instincts. Plenty of teams needed help at that position, particularly the Minnesota Vikings at #18. Yet somehow he slipped through the cracks. Insider Albert Breer of the MMQB put the Bears’ remarkable good fortune into perspective during an appearance on ESPN 1000. He had it on good authority that Thieneman probably would’ve gone 12th overall to the Dallas Cowboys had Ohio State safety Caleb Downs not dropped.

Dillon Thieneman is a perfect example of the draft.

All it takes is one unexpected twist to start a massive cascade effect that can lead a player who should probably be a top 10-15 pick to fall to the bottom of the 1st round. It is all about finding the right conditions for such a thing to happen. The Bears needed Downs to get past the New York Giants at #10 overall, whom many saw as his obvious landing spot. Then they needed other teams to focus on different positions like offensive tackle, defensive line, and wide receiver in the middle of the 1st round.

Once he got past Minnesota, everybody knew the odds were high that he’d be there at #25. Chicago could’ve followed the other teams and focused on more premium positions, but that would’ve ignored their board. Thieneman was by far the best talent available. The fact that he played a position that the Bears needed another starter at was an added bonus. As cliché as it may sound, sometimes you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Don’t overthink it. That is what the Bears did.

Bears fans should be familiar with this.

Back in 2014, hopes were high that Chicago could land Pitt defensive tackle Aaron Donald with the 14th pick. Sadly, he went one spot earlier to the Rams at #13. Rather than go after a different defensive lineman, the Bears opted to take the best player they could. That turned out to be cornerback Kyle Fuller, who became an All-Pro for the team during his career. This is why being married to needs is a bad strategy in the draft. Stick to the board. Trust your scouts. The Bears did that with Dillon Thieneman.

Now they have a chance to field one of the best safety tandems in the NFL over the next few years. Coby Bryant is already an established stud, having played at a Pro Bowl level for the past two years. If Thieneman reaches his potential, he has All-Pro capability. We’re talking peak, healthy Mike Brown territory. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is a great coach to learn from. This is the same man who developed names like Marcus Williams, Vonn Bell, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. The setup couldn’t be better.

The Chicago Bears pieced together a divisive 2026 NFL draft class, both to fans and the wider media. It wasn’t so much that they took a load of bad players. By most accounts, their selections were met with relative positivity. It was more the process involved. The team obviously needed help on defense after ranking 29th last year. Yet general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson ended up using three of their top four draft picks on offensive players. After taking safety Dillon Thieneman in the 1st round, they went with center Logan Jones, tight end Sam Roush, and wide receiver Zavion Thomas through the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

When asked about the odd approach to this class, Johnson made it clear the team’s process wasn’t focused on specific positions. They wanted to add players who fit their team identity.

“We’re looking for high-level competitors. (We’re after) guys who, if you took football away, they’d really not know what to do with themselves…We found guys who fit our DNA and what we want to be about.”

The reasoning was pretty simple. In Johnson’s experience as a coach, he’s often found that such players end up pushing a team toward where it wants to go.

“When you have guys like that, they usually find a way to come out on top.”

Criticize the failed investments on defense if you wish, but one thing that can’t be questioned is the Bears’ vision. They have a clear idea of what kind of team they want to build, and it’s a favorable one. While it would be easy to say Johnson developed this strategy on his own, the truth is simpler.

He’s stealing it from Detroit.

Ben Johnson learned the value of competitiveness with the Lions.

A few years ago, some media members for Pride Of Detroit noticed a specific approach the Lions took to the draft every year. The buzzword that emerged from their research was “grit.” The dictionary defines passion and perseverance as the drive to work toward long-term, meaningful goals, serving as a motivational force to continue working toward challenges despite setbacks, failures, or slow progress. Put simply, it describes players who are resilient, persistent, and passionate. That is why the two men created the GRIT index, intended to help identify which players the Lions may target and why. It was centered around three categories.

• Identity
• Football character
• Football IQ

By sticking to this philosophy, the Lions have enjoyed some of their best drafting in years under general manager Brad Holmes. It continued in the 2026 draft as Detroit landed three players with GRIT scores over 9.0. However, they weren’t alone. One team outpaced them with four such prospects.

This should serve as undeniable evidence that Johnson has brought the same philosophy to Chicago. He saw such players help build the Lions into a contender, so it would make sense for the Bears to target them. As the saying goes, it’s a copycat league.

Johnson’s decision isn’t anything new.

For years, late Bears owner George Halas tried to find somebody who could build the roster properly after he’d retired. After years of ineptitude, he got fed up and decided to poach Jim Finks from the Minnesota Vikings. Finks was largely responsible for building the roster that reached four Super Bowls between 1969 and 1976. If it worked for them, there was no reason it couldn’t work in Chicago. Halas’ decision proved correct. Finks was the main architect of that 1985 team. It is honestly surprising the Bears never tried that strategy again, especially after watching Green Bay and Minnesota have so much success in the following decades.

It is somewhat ironic that they did it almost by accident when they hired Ben Johnson. Though not a general manager, they granted him significant authority over personnel decisions. That enabled him to make changes to the player evaluation approach that Chicago had. Poles seemed more than happy to make adjustments. The early results from last year signaled it was smart to do so. There is no reason to think the philosophy will suddenly steer them wrong now.