It's not often you see a Day 3 draft pick play so well that he has to be a starter in Week 1, but the Chicago Bears' training camp is making that a reality.
While rookies like Dillon Thieneman and Zavion Thomas have been getting the most attention at camp, others could end up as starters on this team in the future. Rookie center Logan Jones looks like the future at center, and Sam Roush appears to be ready to step up as TE2 and play alongside Colston Loveland.
There is one other rookie who is starting to put together consecutive good practices, to the point that he may not be able to be ignored anymore. This Day 3 pick is so good that he might actually be out with the starters against the Carolina Panthers.
Bears are seeing great production out of Jordan van den Berg in camp
Defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg was the Bears' last selection in the 2026 NFL Draft, being picked in the sixth round. Training camp suggests van den Berg could be a future starter on the team. Look at what everyone said about him at the Bears' recent practice.
"Jordan van den Berg had another disruptive day, beating Luke Newman & Logan Jones in 1-on-1s and blowing up a 9-on-7 rep." - Clay Harbor
“Jordan absolutely blew up OL on a rep with the third team..has had two plus reps in 1 on 1 pass rush. Overpowered Logan Jones and shoved Luke Newman aside.” - Brad Biggs
“The Bears are in inside run drills right now and rookie DT Jordan van den Berg was part of the rotation with the starters.” - Adam Jahns
Rookie DT Jordan van den Berg is turning heads at Bears Training Camp 👀:
— Bearsszn (@bearszn) August 6, 2026
“Jordan absolutely blew up OL on a rep with the third team..has had two plus reps in 1 on 1 pass rush. Overpowered Logan Jones and shoved Luke Newman aside.” - @BradBiggs
“the Bears are in inside run… pic.twitter.com/8rjUFCWR8A
Van den Berg had a dominant 2025 season at Georgia Tech, finishing with 44 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and three sacks in 13 games. He was a second-team All-ACC selection in 2024 and a first-team All-ACC selection last year.
Pro Football Focus gave van den Berg an overall grade of 73.9, ranking 155th out of 887 interior defensive linemen. PFF also gave him a pass-rush grade of 61.9 and a run-defense grade of 79.5.
After the massively disappointing 2025 season from Grady Jarrett, the Bears are looking for his future replacement. Van den Berg is making a strong argument to do that.
He can help the Bears most by stopping the run, which the defense was very bad at last year. They were ranked 27th in run defense, allowing 134.5 yards per game on the ground.
Van den Berg has some stiff competition to go up against at the defensive tackle position since Bears general manager Ryan Poles signed multiple depth players. That competition includes Neville Gallimore, James Lynch, and Kentavius Street.
Read more: Bears' growing injury issues just got even worse on Day 8 of training camp
No one said it was going to be easy for van den Berg, but the sixth-round pick is making the most of his opportunity to play in the NFL. He has a real chance to start in Week 1, and the Bears might have no choice but to do it since he's well ahead of his development plan.
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