Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Sean Hammond at the Chicago Tribune addresses Bears third round pick Zavion Thomas’s place on the team.

‘With Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Kalif Raymond and Jahdae Walker looking like the top options at receiver, it might be an uphill battle for Thomas to see touches as a rookie. But [head coach Ben] Johnson is intrigued by Thomas’ abilities as a returner and a unique piece within the offense.’

‘During the 2025 season, he contributed 41 catches for 488 yards and four touchdowns on offense and rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. He was the second-leading receiver on an LSU team that went 7-6.’

‘“When you turn on the tape, it’s more than just being able to run deep routes,” Johnson said after the Bears drafted Thomas. “The versatility that he showed both at Mississippi State and at 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.”

‘Johnson noted that Thomas complements the skill sets of Odunze, Burden and Raymond. The Bears sometimes used DJ Moore in atypical roles, occasionally lining him up in the backfield. Thomas, with his speed, can be a weapon in those exotic looks.’

Thomas is an interesting new piece to Johnson’s offense. And I see no reason why he can’t crack the lineup as one of the top 5 receivers. Raymond and Walker are hardly special and with Thomas’s speed, as indicated by his 4.28 forty yard dash at the combine, he could easily find a place.

My first instinct is to say that, beyond his apparent abilities as a returner, Thomas was drafted to be a DJ Moore replacement as a gadget player within the offense. In other words, he could be the guy who comes in and leaves the defense guessing as to whether they should bring in personnel to stop the run, if he lines up in the backfield, or the pass if he lines up at wide receiver.

Hammond characterizes Thomas’s biggest challenge as learning the playbook. I’m sure that’s always something that rookies need to be concerned about but the biggest issue specific to Thomas might be that he will lack Moore’s knack for getting open. That may not be as bad as it sounds because the Bears failed to take full advantage of Moore’s abilities, primarily because throwing from the pocket hasn’t been a strength of quarterback Caleb Williams. At least not yet.

Thomas might be the player I’m most intrigued about as the Bears approach traniing camp. I’m very much looking forward to seeing where he is, what roles he plays within the offense and how often. And, even more, I’m looking forward to seeing how well he progresses from there and how far he can take his abilities in a professional environment.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

Do you think the Bears are waiting till camp to sign a defensive end? We don’t know when Dayo Odeyingbo or Shemar Turner are coming back. Only have three healthy defensive ends from the 53-man roster last season. Putting lots of confidence in two guys coming off major injury seems like a big gamble. — @bears_dubz

The front office is keeping tabs on potential options. It’s my understanding the Bears brought in A.J. Epenesa for a workout last week. The free agent had 2½ sacks in 16 games for the Buffalo Bills last season after totaling 18½ sacks over three seasons from 2022-24.

Would adding Epenesa or a player like him move the needle for you? Epenesa had an agreement with the Cleveland Browns on a one-year, $5 million contract, but that deal fell apart in late March after the 27-year-old Iowa product failed a physical. What specifically led the Browns to pull their offer is unknown.

That’s evidence that the Bears aren’t sitting around simply wondering how the players on the roster will perform. I’d probably classify the visit by Epenesa somewhere between interest in adding to the position and performing due diligence on an emergency list.

The Bears are optimistic about Austin Booker’s performance this season, and coach Ben Johnson has been very positive about what they got from Montez Sweat last season. When Odeyingbo and Turner are healthy, they’ll have players to fit into a rotation. It would not surprise me if they add a defensive end for competition at some point, but right now the Bears clearly are more confident in Odeyingbo and Turner returning healthy and adding to the mix than the public is.

It frustrates me to read questions like this. What are the Bears supposed to do? Produce a pass rusher out of mid-air?

The Bears obviously wanted to improve the pass rush in the offseason, but the opportunity and/or the value weren’t there. So, like many, even most, of the teams in the NFL, they had to go with what they have. Get over it.

The Bears don’t think that they got everything they could out of Odeyingbo last year. They think that with better health and another season, Turner will be better.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is it. This is your team. They may be good enough with a renewed and concentrated effort by the coaching staff to embed better fundamentals and use the players in different ways. Or they may not be. But as Bears fans, these are our guys. Time to accept that and move on to see what happens.

Brad Biggs, Sean Hammond, and Phil Thompson answer 5 big questions about the current state of they Chicago Bears for the Chicago Tribune:

4.True or false: The pairing of Dillon Thieneman and Coby Bryant at safety is an upgrade over the combo of Kevin Byard III and Jaquan Brisker?

Biggs: True. Byard brought a lot to the table in terms of high-caliber play, tremendous instincts and leadership. Bryant probably plays with a little more range, and while he doesn’t have the same level of veteran experience, that was a good signing. Take the playoffs out of the equation, and it’s hard to point to many instances last season when Brisker consistently made big plays. The Bears have more range on the back end now, and that will give Allen increased flexibility.

Hammond: True. Thieneman’s versatility and athleticism should be an upgrade over Brisker. Former Bears coach Matt Eberflus loved the physicality Brisker brought to the safety position, but [defensive coordinator Dennis] Allen wants more versatile players on the back end. Thieneman should be a better scheme fit for Allen’s defense. Losing Byard’s leadership will hurt, but Bryant should be able to fill his role on the field, if not off it. Bryant has played only two years at safety, so in some ways he’s still just scratching the surface.

Thompson: That’s hard to answer without seeing Thieneman play a down of pro football. But I’ll say it’s true — in the long run. It’s absurd to suggest a pair of newcomers to Allen’s defense will immediately match or exceed Byard’s football IQ (he led the NFL with seven interceptions) or Brisker’s run support and blitz game. But given time, Bryant’s and Thieneman’s smarts, speed and adaptability should eventually win out.

Like Thompson, I’ll say that it depends but for a different reason.

Byard was an All Pro safety with 7 interceptions last year. Those don’t grow on trees.

Turnovers from Byard and Nash Wright are what kept the Bears defense respectable last year. Neither is on the team now and the Bears are going to have to make up for the loss. That means probably by being better in literally every other way.

Could the Bears be so much improved that they are better at safety than Byard combined with Brisker, a hard hitting player with a bad concussion history? Certainly the combination of Thieneman and Bryant will allow Allen to do more with the defense in terms of disguise and they will probably be more multiple. But that’s going to have to go a long way towards making up the deficit, particularly with a suspect pass rush.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune thought the Bears did the right things in the 2026 NFL Draft:

There’s no telling how members of this year’s draft class, which was completed Saturday with three selections — Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad, **Arizona State linebacker **Keyshaun Elliott and Georgia Tech defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg — will fare in their first seasons. None of the draft picks will pitch in much with the pass rush but the Bears — based on their actions — are telling you they believe they got better players than available prospects at spots at which clear needs still exist.

For an edge rusher to come in Round 2 when the Bears chose Iowa center Logan Jones, they would have had to have gone horizontally — meaning to a cluster of lower-graded players. They went with the higher-graded player at a position that is of high value to them. In Round 3, the edge rushers people felt could step in and make an impact were long gone. Johnson perked up when asked about [Sam] Roush and his blocking ability. As Colston Loveland developed last season and quarterback Caleb Williams got more comfortable in the scheme, the Bears leaned hard into personnel with two and three tight ends. It’s really one of the unique things about Johnson’s offense.

None of this de-emphasizes the significance of the pass rush or glosses over inefficiencies in getting after the quarterback last season when they ranked 21st in sacks per pass attempt. Maybe there’s a move to make down the road.

One option would have been to trade up to the top of Round 2. That would have come close to costing the Bears both of their second-round picks (Nos. 57 and 60), and they would have been getting a player they viewed as a project. That’s what it was like at No. 25, too, when they chose Thieneman, if you take a close look at it. Get the second safety on the board or roll the dice on an edge rusher who is still available because of question marks.

The article also came through the what was for me, the money quote:

“We’re certainly going to coach better than we did a year ago,” [head coach Ben] Johnson said. “It starts there. We’ve made a concerted effort in how we’re going to get that done.”

It doesn’t actually start there. It starts with evaluating and acquiring the talent to work with. But Johnson certainly has the right idea.

It always amuses me when draft experts grade drafts in the NFL. It’s almost always as much about “filling needs” as it is about talent. Sometimes it’s even more about that, presumably because it’s much easier to see and evaluate needs than it is for the average sports commentator to evaluate talent. Anyone can look at an NFL roster and see holes. But evaluating talent requires hours of work watching video, something that, despite what they say, the average talking head isn’t doing. Not like the scouts and GMs. And even if they are, they aren’t looking at it through the lens of the scouts and front office people of one particular team who can focus on fits for their particular scheme and philosophy.

It’s true that the Bears didn’t fill needs along the line of scrimmage with this draft. But, honestly, that’s not what the draft should be about. What NFL teams need to acquire in the draft are impact players, not at a particular position, but at any position on the field.

The key to success for any NFL franchise over the long term is to draft and develop. They’ve done the drafting part and I have no doubt that the Bears acquired some good, talented players this year, guys with a high ceiling. Now their job is to coach these players up to get the most out of them. They appear to have done that last year. If they do it again, this draft will be a good one.