Windy City Gridiron
While fans might be concerned about whether or not the quality of the draft lines up with the needs of the Bears, the truth is that Chicago is in an excellent position to improve their roster.
Kevin Warren promised an aggressive offseason, and Ben Johnson has publicly stated that he is exactly where he wants to be. Ultimately, though, the draft is going to be about Ryan Poles. He has the ability to deliver to his head coach (and their fanbase) a team that is ready to compete. Perhaps significantly, this could be the last time Chicago has this level of control over the draft.
In terms of raw purchasing power, Chicago is drafting 10th but has more draft capital than all but five teams (and this is true on both the Johnson and Hill charts). Perhaps more importantly, that power is packaged into units other teams are likely to value. Chicago is the only team in this draft with four picks in the Top 75, and the only team with three picks in the Top 50, and their ownership of a Top 10 pick means that trade partners do not need to fall out of range of the players they decide should they choose to trade down with Chicago. Functionally, without much sacrifice, the Chicago Bears can probably reach any one player Ben Johnson is likely to want and still have the potential to acquire another starter beyond that–probably more.
Assuming that most consensus boards are at least loosely correct, the top five players in the 2025 draft are likely to be quarterbacks Cameron Ward and Shedeur Sanders, B1G Ten defensive standouts Mason Graham and Abdul Carter, and athletic playmaker Travis Hunter. At least three of those five players are probably out of reach.
In the next cloud of players should be this year’s “once-in-a-generation” running back Ashton Jeanty or the newest “tight end who we promise is actually everything” Tyler Warren, whomever Ben Johnson thinks is the best wide receiver, the best offensive lineman on the board (Membou? Campbell? Banks perhaps?), and even an edge rusher or two. If there is a player that stands out above the rest, the New England Patriots sit at #4 needing a broad infusion of help and the Jacksonville Jaguars might love to be able to take advantage of defensive line help and still avail themselves of a class full of interesting defensive backs. Las Vegas might be willing to gamble and the Jets always seem like they need more talent.
The #4 overall pick in the draft is conventionally valued at 1800 points, which is exactly between the value of #10 (1300) added to either #39 (510) or #41 (490). In other words, should the Patriots be willing to deal, Poles could go up and get the fourth player off the board for his new head coach and he would still have a second-round pick and his own third-round pick left intact. If the player they want instead falls to the...
