With the scouting combine over, the Chicago Bears have begun their tour of the college football pro day circuit. It is also around this time that they and other teams begin bringing in prospects for private visits. Each team is allowed a maximum of 30 per cycle, so they must determine who would benefit most from a long session. Until recently, Bears general manager Ryan Poles has focused on players he would likely draft somewhere in the top three rounds. Last year, they met with seven eventual 1st round picks, including Colston Loveland, and eight eventual 2nd round picks, including Luther Burden, Shemar Turner, and Ozzy Trapilo.

However, based on early evidence, it appears the Bears might be shifting back to an old strategy. In 2022, Poles seems to place a much heavier focus on prospects more likely to either go in the later rounds (4-7) or become undrafted free agents. Of the reported visits, nine players fell into that category. The idea was to get as much information as possible on players with fewer eyes on them since the Bears planned to be aggressive in the later rounds and undrafted free agency. They ended up making eight picks in the later rounds and signing 16 undrafted rookies.

Based on early evidence, it appears the team has shifted back to that strategy for the 2026 NFL draft.

The Chicago Bears have not yet been reported meeting a top prospect.

To date, five names have been revealed to have come to Chicago for a meeting with the team. All five are projected to go on day three of the draft or become an undrafted free agent.

• Indiana DE Mikail Kamara
• Kentucky RB Seth McGowan
• Kentucky C Jager Burton
• Ole Miss WR De’Zhaun Stribling
• Michigan LB Jimmy Rolder

This is somewhat curious since the Bears currently have just three picks on day three. They traded their 5th and 6th rounders, leaving them with a 4th and two 7ths. That either means Poles plans to do significant wheeling and dealing in the draft to acquire more or come out aggressively on the undrafted market. Both are distinct possibilities. Poles did a ton of trading in 2022 to secure more picks. He already knows how.

So the obvious question is, why do this? The short answer is depth. Chicago’s roster took a significant hit this offseason. No fewer than 10 players from their team last year have departed in free agency for other teams. Two, D.J. Moore and Tremaine Edmunds, were traded and cut, respectively. The Bears have lost seven full or part-time starters since the offseason began. Now, some of those holes have been plugged with the arrivals of Coby Bryant, Devin Bush, and Neville Gallimore. However, they still have significant holes across the board.

And they’re out of money.

The Bears have two options.

They can restructure several contracts, clearing cap space to sign more veterans, or they can lean into their scouting department and go hunting for lots of young talent. It requires good evaluation and strong enough coaching to make it work. For a long time, they didn’t have the latter. That has changed with the arrival of Ben Johnson and his staff. The Bears’ head coach wants to build this team in his vision. You don’t do that might bringing in cast-offs from other teams. He wants kids from college who are eager to work.

Not all of the names the Chicago Bears bring in will pan out. That is the nature of the NFL. The goal is to see if they can land three or four legitimate contributors in a large pool. It worked in 2022. They landed Braxton Jones in the 5th round as a starting left tackle. Safety Elijah Hicks came in the 7th round and became one of their best special teams players. Last but not least, undrafted free agent linebacker Jack Sanborn emerged as a quality starter on defense. There is a method to the madness.

Chicago Bears players weren’t sure what to make of Ben Johnson when the team hired him in January of last year. All they knew was his reputation as one of the NFL’s top offensive minds, fresh off immense success in Detroit. While they meant good things for quarterback Caleb Williams, some were skeptical he could translate that to an entire team. He was young after all, only 38 years old. Too many previous head coaches came in around that age, thinking they had all the answers, only to realize they weren’t ready. Longtime safety Kevin Byard had seen it before.

It didn’t take Johnson long to disabuse players of that notion. He promised, in his introductory press conference, that guys should get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Nobody was quite sure what he meant at the time. Byard soon found out in training camp. He told Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report that in his decade-long NFL career, it was the hardest one he’d ever experienced. Keep in mind, this is a man who had Mike Vrabel as his head coach for a large chunk of it. That should tell you how maniacal Johnson was.

Players hated it. However, it didn’t take long to realize the underlying goal behind such an approach.

Ben Johnson embraces a philosophy that goes back decades.

Everybody is always focused on the games and their results. They never see the work that goes into practice every day. The best teams, based on history, are the ones who practice the hardest. NFL icon Vince Lombardi had a telling quote about this during his run with the Green Bay Packers.

“We win our games in practice. We learn and follow the fundamentals of our game better than anyone in the league. All of our games are won in practice.”

The best way to understand a player is how they perform when they’re exhausted and hurting. Only long, grueling practices can offer answers to that question. Too many head coaches nowadays care about practices being crisp and structured.

Not Johnson. While he demands the same high level of execution, he does everything possible to simulate a game atmosphere. That includes conducting brutal live tackling drills, allowing players to go full speed. The goal is not to punish them. It is to get their bodies and minds calloused to the grind of an NFL season. Including the playoffs and Super Bowl, there are 20-21 games to be played. Only the toughest and best-conditioned teams survive to the end.

This game has no room for mercy.

Ben Johnson cares about his players. That has been obvious from the beginning. However, he also understands the fundamental law of football. It isn’t for cowards. If you can’t handle tough practices, there is no way you can be trusted deep in the 4th quarter of a tight game. That goes back to another Lombardi quote.

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

The Bears’ head coach needs to know who he can trust when the chips are down, and one last effort is needed to cross the finish line. It’s apparent his message got through since the team led the league with seven 4th quarter comebacks. Chicago was learning about the value of true hard work and sacrifice.

It certainly doesn’t sound like Johnson has any intention of changing his way. He said the Bears were starting over from square one, having to rebuild the team again, most likely with a long list of new faces. They must all learn the core necessity of hard work. We will find out this summer who can take it and who may soon be looking for a new home. One thing Byard probably won’t admit publicly is that signing with the New England Patriots gets him away from those practices.

The Chicago Bears had one of their best offseasons in years in 2025. Most of that was courtesy of their excellent draft class led by Colston Loveland and Luther Burden. However, they also scored some vital hits on the free agent market. Center Drew Dalman became a Pro Bowler on offense, while Nahshon Wright exploded out of nowhere for five interceptions after replacing an injured Jaylon Johnson at cornerback. Wright was a complete nobody when the Bears picked him up. He’d been a former 3rd round pick in Dallas who’d been traded to Minnesota after failing to find his footing. The Vikings soon cut him as well.

Chicago represented what might be the last of his dwindling chances. He made the most of it, parlaying that Pro Bowl campaign into a nice payday from the New York Jets. Still, that has left the Bears secondary with questions of depth at cornerback. Johnson and Kyler Gordon are coming off injury-plagued seasons. It might be wise to bring in some extra help. Bill Barnwell of ESPN believes this coaching staff might be capable of delivering another miracle turnaround for a pair of former disappointing draft picks.

The Bears could bring one of those veterans in on a one-year deal, but that would be to compete with Stevenson, not replace him. The likes of Tre’Davious White or Jeff Okudah could be more appealing. Chicago could also try to buy low on a disappointing young player such as Kyu Blu Kelly or Kaiir Elam, hoping that Allen might coax more out of them than their previous staffs.

While the Bears might hope to address wide receiver and edge rusher early on in the 2026 draft, the secondary should also be a priority.

Both players share traits with Nahshon Wright.

Kelly and Elam are both good athletes with size and length. Bears defensive backs coach Al Harris prefers players of that ilk. Kelly was a 5th round pick of Baltimore in 2023 but never found much playing time. He seemed to have a minor breakthrough last season with three interceptions, but it was with a terrible Las Vegas Raiders team. Elam had all the athletic tools one could want, which is why the Buffalo Bills took him in the 1st round in 2022. Things just never clicked. He never built on what was a promising rookie season and was eventually traded to Dallas. After that flamed out, he ended up in Tennessee, where he had a couple of nice moments on a bad team as well.

Such a move would be a calculated gamble on Harris’s coaching abilities. He was the one primarily responsible for developing Wright. The two also worked together in Dallas. He has a knack for coaching cornerbacks, which isn’t surprising given his past success as a player. This would come down to whether he feels one of those two players might be fixable. Based on recent assessments, Kelly seems the more promising of the two. He seemed to find himself a little last season and might be nearing full blossoming.

The draft will likely dictate this decision.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles has demonstrated a desire to draft cornerbacks every year. He already proved that again in 2025 by selecting Zah Frazier in the 5th round. The team may still wish to give him an opportunity. There is also a chance they will keep adding with another pick, hoping to gain added depth at one of the most important positions in the league. However, if the Bears wish to focus on the front seven and safety, which most expect, then going the veteran route makes sense.

The odds of landing another Nahshon Wright who will lead the league among corners in interceptions is remote. Still, there is a good chance they can find another quality body somewhere. Harris is a good enough coach to point the way. Maybe it’s Kelly. Maybe it’s Elam. Or maybe it is somebody else. The trick is determining who fits what they do best.