Breaking Down the Chicago Bears’ Positional Strategy for the 2025 NFL Draft
Bears GM Ryan Poles has some holes to fill. Which is the deepest?
THE CURRENT CHICAGO BEARS roster has only one position 100% set in stone: Quarterback. (Okay, the kicking game is also locked in, but is punter really a position? Meh.)
A vocal chunk of Chicago’s justifiably cranky and frustrated fan base might argue that Chicago isn’t set at quarterback, that QB Caleb Williams didn’t have a Jayden Daniels-esque season (or even a Bo Nix-ian season) — and they’re right, he didn’t.
If you were building a team based strictly on 2024 performance, everybody and their mother would take Daniels over Williams without a second thought. And of course they would, because Daniels isn’t just 2024’s numero uno rookie quarterback, but he’s among the tops in the NFL, period.
The LSU product boasted the league’s fourth-best QBR (70.6) the sixth-best completion percentage (69.0) and the tenth-best in touchdown passes (25) and. And his 864 rushing yards doesn’t just top the QB list — ahead of Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Jalen Hurts — but he's the 23rd-best ground-gainer (891 yards) in the entire league.
Point is, dude’s elite.
But for his part, the Bears’ rookie signal caller put together a solid freshman year, especially when compared to every other first-year QB in the franchise’s history.
For that matter, in terms of total passing yardage and interception rate, Williams’ digits compare favorably to every Chicago field general ever.
Sure, the Bears’ offense under Williams was among the worst in the NFL — e.g., last in yards per game, fourth-worst in points scored, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera — but I think we can all agree that their futility wasn’t strictly Williams’ fault. (We’re talking to you, Shane Waldron, Thomas Brown, and a certain lousy O-line.)
But stats are stats are stats, and Caleb’s stats, all things considered, are pretty darn good.
(I know, I know, the rook’s numbers were inflated due to the fact that the Bears spent the majority of 2024 season playing from behind, thus giving Caleb a whole lot of what legendary broadcaster Marv Albert used to call “extended gahr-baj time.” But, to reiterate, stats are stats are stats.)
So QB (and punter) (and kicker) are set. But every other position on the Chicago Bears roster is — or at least should be — ripe for a major upgrade.
The Bears will be picking an the ten-spot in the 2025 NFL Draft, and while this class doesn’t offer any true franchise-fixers — outside of maybe Travis Hunter or Ashton Jeanty, there’s nary a Joe Burrow, a Myles Garrett, or an Orlando Pace to be seen — there are plenty of options at the top of the first who could be helpful.
The question then becomes, where does Chicago need help the most?
With no true game-changers in the mix, might a best-player-available approach make the most sense? After all, there’s recent precedent for this approach working like a charm — and it comes from within the Bears’ own division.
In 2023, with the 13th overall pick, the Detroit Lions drafted running back Jahmyr Gibbs, this despite the fact that they’d scooped up a legit RB1 in David Montgomery during free agency, and that worked out pretty well (#SonicAndKnuckles).
To that end, here’s what Bears’ GM Ryan Poles and Chicago’s crack scouting department should consider, positionally speaking, on Draft Night, April 24, 2025:
QUARTERBACK
They’re set. Next.
RUNNING BACK
Heading into the 2018 NFL Draft, Penn State running back Saquon Barkley was considered by many to be the best sheer football player available, regardless of position.
Sports Illustrated, for instance, had him ranked above Bradley Chubb, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Denzel Ward, and Josh Allen, saying:
“Evaluators told our Albert Breer that Barkley is a better prospect than Ezekiel Elliott was two years ago, and one team told Peter King that Barkley was the fifth prospect in the past 20 years to have received a perfect grade from them. Barkley is a true workhorse back who would be a first-round prospect solely on his ability as a runner. Add in his passing-game skills and he’s custom-built for the modern NFL.”
Cleveland was in desperate need of a quarterback, so they grabbed Baker Mayfield (over Allen and Lamar Jackson, FWIW), leaving Barkley for the New York Giants.
Barkley’s tenure in New York was marred by injury — he played a full schedule in just two of his seven seasons with the Jints — but now that he’s fully healthy and running (and catching) behind a top-shelf Philadelphia Eagles offensive line, he’s poised to break Eric Dickerson’s all-time single-season rushing record this coming Sunday. * Thanks in part to ‘Quan’s year for the ages, DraftKings Sportsbook has Philly as the favorite to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIX.
Sounds like Barkley was very much worthy of the first pick.
The same could be said for Ashton Jeanty.
This season, the shifty speedster out of Boise State racked up an absurd 2,601 rushing yards and 29 tuddies on the ground. CBS Sports compares him favorably to Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson, Joe Mixon, and, of course, Barkley.
If you’re the Chicago Bears, do you look at your 2024 stat sheet and think, “Man, our running game was stellar”?
Hells no you don’t
Chicago’s ostensible RB1 D’Andre Swift managed 894 yards — a dip from his 2023 numbers in Philly — with a career-lows in success rate (43.8%) and yards per rush (3.8). As a team, the Bears ranked ninth-from-last in rushing yards, a number that would’ve been considerably lower had Caleb Williams not run for 479 yards.
Jeanty would look smashing in the navy-blue-and-orange, and if he’s available when the Bears are on the clock, I’d take him in a heartbeat.
WIDE RECEIVER
Does star power outside of the quarterback position win Super Bowls?
Rarely.
The last time a non-Hall-of-Fame-level QB brought home a Lombardi Trophy was in 2013, when all Baltimore’s Joe Flacco had to do was be good enough to let the Ravens’ scary-ass defense drag the team across the finish line.
Caleb Williams isn’t a a Hall-of-Fame-level QB (yet, fingers crossed), so bringing in a shiny new object at wide receiver when you spent a top-10 first round pick on Rome Odunze less than one calendar year ago might not be the best use of draft capital.
That said, Texas speedster Matthew Golden should be worth a think.
Chicago might head into the 2025 season without a legit WR3, and while D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze have the potential to grow into a semi-elite duo, neither are a mega-scary downfield threat. And with his 4.29 speed, Golden would be just that.
Grabbing him at ten would be a stretch. But trading down to, say, 17 might get it done.
TIGHT END
Two things:
Bears tight end Cole Kmet is eminently average.
There aren’t any Brock Bowerses in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Penn State’s Tyler Warren looks like the real deal, and if the draft board as such, don’t be surprised if the former Nittany Lions gets The Call from Poles.
Because Kmet ain’t the answer.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Like every OL scout in the league, Will Campbell is my guy.
The 6′ 6″, 324 pounder out of LSU is one of the best — if not the best — tackles in the Draft, and a tantalizing number of mock drafts have him still on the board around Bear-time.
The 33rd Team compares him to the Tennessee Titans’ Peter Skoronski, saying, “[Campbell] has a ton of power in his punch and great grip strength.”
He likely won’t fall past New Orleans at nine, but if it doesn’t, man, wouldn’t he look nice next to Darnell Wright and Joe Thuney for the next few seasons?
CENTER
On the first day of free agency, Ryan Poles gave a three-year, $42 million contract to Drew Dalman. Plus this is among the shallowest positions in the draft, so no first round centers allowed. Or second. Or third.
EDGE
EDGE is as deep as center is shallow.
The Athletic’s Draft guru Dane Brugler feels there are six EDGE rushers worthy of first-round consideration, the edgiest of whom is Penn State’s beastial Abdul Carter.
Chicago’s 2024 EDGE room wasn’t great, with Montez Sweat compiling 5.5 sacks (down 7 from last season), and DeMarcus Walker racking up 3.5. Nine combined takedowns from your starting ends is unacceptable.
That said, since there are so many goodies to choose from, waiting until Day Two should be the move…that is, unless Carter somehow gets past pick four. Which won’t happen.
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Brugler also feels there’s a deep well of DT’s, ranking five of them in his top 25. Michigan’s Mason Graham is the consensus go-to, with so, so many outlets having him picked by Jacksonville at the five-spot, so the likelihood of seeing Graham in a Bears uni is, um, unlikely.
Chicago has two high second-round picks, so Day Two on this position feels about right.
LINEBACKER
Coming into the 2024 seasons, PFF ranked Chicago’s linebacking unit as the third-best in the league. They haven’t lived up to the hype, but with T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds signed through, respectively, the 2027 and 2026 seasons, the position can wait.
CORNERBACK
What with Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Terrell Smith, and Tyrique Stevenson in the CB room, the Bears don’t really need a corner in the first round. Or the second. Maybe the third.
SAFETY
Most Bears watchers will point to the line as their defense’s weak spot, but things ain’t exactly popping in Safety Land either
Kevin Byard III and Jonathan Owens were competent enough, but both have some tread on the tires — Byard is 31, while Owens is 29 — so an infusion of young blood wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Do they need an infusion of first-round blood, though? Nah. Plenty to choose from on days two and three.
THE VERDICT
I’m on Team Jeanty, so if he’s around at ten, he’s mine, which is why my positional needs tote board looks a little something like this…
Running Back
Tight End
Interior Offensive Line
EDGE
Wide Receiver
Linebacker
Defensive Tackle
Safety
Cornerback
We’ll revisit one week from today, at which point, you can either send me a muffin basket or roast me on Twitter.
(Note: This is an updated version of an article that was originally published on January 2, 2025.)