The Chicago Bears are going to draft a center. We’ve already been seeing the signs for the past several weeks. Drew Dalman’s retirement really threw a wrench into their plans, forcing general manager Ryan Poles to swing a deal for veteran Garrett Bradbury. However, this is a temporary solution. Bradbury is in the final year of his contract and already in his 30s. The team must think about long-term options in the upcoming draft. They’ve already met with three projected centers in the 2026 class. That is a surefire sign they plan to draft one within the first four rounds.

What remains unknown is who they might be eyeing. Sam Hecht of Kansas State is a popular name making the rounds. Chicago has a strong presence at his pro day. Yet if you ask scouts around the NFL, he isn’t the one to watch. That name is Logan Jones. Iowa has a long-established track record of producing good offensive linemen over several years. Jones isn’t the most talented to come out of college, but many believe he has all the traits necessary to become a productive starter. It also sounds like he’d be a perfect fit in the Bears’ system under Ben Johnson. Bob McGinn of Go Long had more.

“He’s far and away the best center,” one scout said. “Third round.” Was a defensive tackle before moving to offense in spring 2022 after Tyler Linderbaum was off to the NFL. “He’s not Linderbaum,” said another scout. “He’s more like Luke Wattenberg who came out of Washington and who plays in the league (Denver). He’s not going to be the best ever but he’s got strong hands and he’s smart. His makeup is awesome. He’s got good enough size and power to be a starter. Typical Iowa guy.”

“Little bit of a poor man’s Linderbaum,” a third scout said. “He should find his way onto the field just because of who he is. The athlete, the hand strength. You want bigger and all that, but in the San Francisco (zone) scheme I could see him excelling.”

The Chicago Bears have not been mentioned around Jones at all.

That in itself is interesting. You’d think a player with his mental makeup and skill set would be somebody they’d have eyes on at all times. The Bears didn’t even attend his pro day. Are they really that disinterested? In truth, the lack of connection is more interesting because recent history suggests it is intentional. Keep this in mind. None of the reported top 30 visits from last year saw the Bears meet with players they eventually drafted.

That should tell you the absence of Jones’ name means the team isn’t interested in him. Last year showed they were very intentional about where they popped up, often using high-profile pro days to throw other teams off the scent of who they wanted. It later came out that Colston Loveland was one of their top targets from the outset, yet their only notable top 30 visit was with Tyler Warren, his biggest competition in the 1st round. There is a possibility that the meetings with Hecht and James Brockermeyer are intended to ensure that other teams don’t sense an interest in Jones.

Johnson wants good football players.

They don’t all have to be stars, but they all have to fit a certain criteria. They must be smart and must love the game. Anybody who has watched Jones since becoming the starter for Iowa knows that he embodies both. Every snap sees maximum effort, and he is somebody who does his homework. That is why he is rarely caught off guard. While he may not have the same talent as other alumni from that university, he has all the hallmarks of somebody who can play in the NFL for a decade.

Let’s not forget that one of the best centers in Chicago Bears history came from Iowa. Jay Hilgenberg anchored that great offensive line in the 1980s. It’s honestly surprising the team didn’t lean more into that university over the years, given how well it’s worked out for them. Here’s hoping they have eyes on Jones and are playing possum. This is somebody who embodies everything they preach. The only question is whether they can snag him in the 3rd round, as scouts believe.

After trading D.J. Moore to the Buffalo Bills, there wasn’t much of a panic from Chicago Bears fans. They felt the team still had two wide receivers as pillars who would lead the team forward. One was Rome Odunze, and the other was Luther Burden. Both had flashed plenty of potential last season in Ben Johnson’s offense. With another offseason to learn it, they are poised to have a big season in 2026. However, that hasn’t stopped lots of pre-draft chatter about the Bears being more involved in the wide receiver position than you would expect.

Sure, the team has some depth concerns, but it doesn’t feel like that would warrant a pick in the first three rounds. Yet from how Bears head coach Ben Johnson spoke at the owners meetings down in Arizona on Monday, it’s pretty clear he isn’t as satisfied with the wide receiver room as fans and media might be.

“I think coaching-wise, we need to do a better job of getting the primary receiver open. I think our route detail has gotta improve. And our ball location. And simply catching the football has gotta improve there.”

Rest assured, Odunze was at the center of those comments. Johnson hasn’t forgotten the receiver’s persistent drop issues from last season. He had five. For context, Puca Nacua also had five, but that was while being targeted 200 times, while Odunze only had 99. It was a problem, and the Bears expect improvement.

“That’s something we’ll talk to him about,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that was a thing for him coming out. I don’t want to speak that into existence. That’s something as an entire offense we’re going to emphasize here in the springtime: getting back to our fundamentals, back to the basics, as simple as that sounds. Catching the football is part of it.”

Rome Odunze is in an uncomfortable position.

The drop issues alone were troubling last year. That is, before you’re reminded that he also suffered a debilitating foot injury that hampered him most of the season. It is an injury he chose not to have surgically repaired this offseason, believing/hoping that the extended rest would give it a chance to heal. If doctors gave him that advice, one can only trust they know what they’re talking about. History shows that foot problems tend to linger in positions like wide receiver, where running and cutting at high speed are crucial.

Then you have the elephant in the room. Yes, Rome Odunze was the 9th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. Yes, he absolutely deserved to be at the time. Nobody questioned it. However, there is one big issue that can’t be glossed over.

Johnson had no say in Odunze being drafted.

The Bears’ new head coach inherited him from a different regime. Now that isn’t always a death sentence. There are many examples of new coaches coming in and embracing established players. That said, we already know this staff isn’t above unloading proven names if they feel it doesn’t fit their vision. Ask Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker.

This season is sink or swim for Odunze.

The Bears are already laying the groundwork for a massive contract extension for Caleb Williams. Their young quarterback proved he was on the right track last season and is their future. The same can’t be said for Rome Odunze. Not yet, anyway. His contract is also reaching that stage where extension talks should be happening. Yet it’s likely they haven’t. The Bears didn’t see enough last year to justify it. Sure, he had a strong start and some pivotal moments in the playoffs.

He also had some lowlights. The injury and that brutal drop against Los Angeles are two such examples. Chicago is operating like they will wait and see until after this season. If Odunze stays healthy and cuts down on the mental mistakes, they won’t have any qualms about opening those extension talks. That said, if it’s more of the same this year, don’t be shocked if the team starts looking for alternatives. This is not the sort of regime that is afraid to move on from established players or high draft picks. Brisker is gone. Tyrique Stevenson was all but benched. Kiran Amegajie is all but gone.

Odunze is not safe, and he’d best recognize that.

We all know how the DJ Moore trade happened. The Chicago Bears flipped him to the Buffalo Bills along with a 5th round pick in exchange for a 2nd round pick. It wasn’t an easy decision. The team wanted to keep him. Unfortunately, the business of football catches up to you eventually. The Bears were caught in a salary cap crunch. They needed a way to create space. Trading Moore secured $16 million. It was basic economics, even if the personal emotions involved made it incredibly difficult.

What we don’t know is the deeper details of how it came about. Usually, situations like this develop quickly once phone calls are placed. However, that isn’t the case here. The story goes much further back than anybody could’ve imagined. Bills general manager Brandon Beane appeared on The Pat McAfee Show to discuss the current state of his team. The Moore trade soon came up, and it was here he dropped a bombshell.

Buffalo had actually called the Bears back at the trade deadline in November, hoping to make a deal then. The Bears declined, unwilling to part with one of their offensive weapons. However, after the season, as the cap issue came to the forefront, Bears GM Ryan Poles called them back to ask whether they were still interested. The rest is history.

The Bears’ decision to turn down the DJ Moore trade isn’t surprising.

Timing is everything. One must remember that the team had won five of their last six games after starting 0-2 before the deadline arrived. They had serious momentum building, and Caleb Williams was a huge reason for that. The last thing the team wanted to do was mess with the formula when they finally had something cooking. Their decision proved 100% correct. Moore became one of their most critical playmakers down the stretch. His overtime touchdown to beat Green Bay and go-ahead score in the playoffs to cap the Bears’ epic comeback would never have happened if they had decided to trade him.

It won’t be remembered in the history books compared to other prominent moments, but the decision to keep DJ Moore a little longer led to one of the best stretches of Bears football fans got to witness. Besides, there is no reason to feel bad about how things worked out. Moore goes to a team where he gets to play with a top-three quarterback under a head coach who knows him. The Bears gained financial flexibility and an extra high draft pick while still retaining a lot of young talent at wide receiver.

Moore’s time in Chicago wasn’t long.

Yet nobody can say it meant nothing. He started by delivering one of the best seasons a Bears wide receiver has ever had in 2023, going for over 1300 yards. Then last year, he had what will arguably go down as the greatest catch in franchise history. Not many people are able to squeeze that much into just three seasons. It’s unlikely he feels bitter about the outcome. He lands in a place that will feature him a lot more than the Bears would’ve under Ben Johnson, who, in turn, gets to continue remaking the offense in his own vision.

This will be one of those win-win trades when it’s all said and done. Here is hoping Moore gets a chance to help Buffalo finally get over the hump to a Super Bowl. He is certainly the best weapon they’ve had in some time. The interesting part is what the Bears will do at wide receiver with him gone. Signing Kalif Raymond was a start, but it wouldn’t be shocking if they look for more help in the draft.

Fans have been trying for weeks to unravel the mystery of which direction the Chicago Bears will go in the 2026 NFL draft. Predicting exact players is almost impossible. That is especially true when the team is selecting at the bottom of the 1st round, where it’s unclear which players may or may not be available. All we can do is speculate on the most likely names that will be involved and who, among them, Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson would prefer.

In these cases, the smart idea isn’t to focus on specific players, but maybe specific positions. Everybody likes to say that the top 30 visits don’t at all determine who a team will draft. While that can be true to an extent, there has been a tell this entire time. Kyle Borgognoni of Fantasy Footballers ran some interesting numbers. He found that if an NFL team meets three or more players at a single position before the draft, the odds of selecting one in the top four rounds drastically increase to 80% or more.

Is the data backed up by recent Chicago Bears history?

I decided to dig into the information, looking across multiple years and all the top 30 visits confirmed before each draft. I then listed the first position targeted in each draft, followed by the number of visits the Bears had. The results were pretty telling.

For the most part, Borgognoni’s theory holds true. In six of the last eight drafts, the Bears targeted a position with their first pick that saw them have three or more visits with key players from it. One exception was 2024, and reports have since revealed the team was dialed in on Caleb Williams pretty much from the moment they secured the #1 overall pick. The other was 2022, and it’s worth mentioning that only 14 names were revealed from that list, so there very well could’ve been two cornerbacks unaccounted for, including Kyler Gordon.

The point is, we have a fairly reliable barometer for which way the Chicago Bears might be leaning going into the draft. So what happens if we apply it to the current list of 30 visits?

Current information is starting to form a picture.

Right now, the names reported to be at the Chicago Bears’ meetings so far are still trickling in. While not all of them will be revealed, we’re seeing certain positions stand out.

• Center – 3
• Defensive tackle – 2
• Edge rusher – 2
• Linebackers – 2

That paints a pretty clear picture. Based on the available data, it looks like the Bears are focused on two areas: the offensive line and the defensive front seven. This makes sense when you start putting the pieces together. Yes, the Bears traded for Garrett Bradbury, but he’s in his 30s and has just one year left on his contract. They signed two a couple of defensive tackles, but no starters. They lost two edge rushers and haven’t made a single addition in free agency. They did sign Devin Bush and Jack Sanborn at linebacker, but there are lingering rumors that they aren’t keen on another year of T.J. Edwards.

Put all of it together, and it’s a strong possibility we will see most, if not all, of those positions addressed in the first four rounds. It is only a matter of what order. Center is unlikely in the 1st round, given the general lack of premier talent. Linebacker is also out since it’s a non-premium position. That leaves defensive tackle and edge rusher as the two favorites to be the pick at #25 overall.