When the Chicago Bears picked Sam Roush in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft, a lot of fans questioned the move, right away. Tight end didn't exactly seem like a need at the moment.
But, now that we're a few weeks removed from the draft, we're starting to see more and more why Roush was such a smart pick. Even one Green Bay Packers radio host managed to highlight why Ryan Poles was so smart in snagging him.
ESPN Wisconsin's Jason Wilde recently went on the air to discuss why he is concerned with the depth at tight end behind the Packers' starter, Tucker Kraft:
"I'm not worried about Tucker Kraft. Now, if I'm a Packers fan, I'm worried about what they have behind Tucker Kraft, when even Gutey admitted that the one thing in the draft that he didn't get that he wanted was a tight end. I thought that was interesting."
For those who may not have followed all the way, Wilde was referring to Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst saying that he had wanted to come away with a tight end in this year's draft, but didn't.
The Chicago Bears' tight end room looks lightyears ahead of their bitter rival
Behind Kraft, the Packers have 2023 second-round pick Luke Musgrave, who has yet to live up to his draft billing. After Musgrave, it's Josh Whyle.
Meanwhile, the Bears are looking at a current top-5 tight end in football in Colston Loveland. After a breakout second half in his rookie season, Loveland has the attention of experts everywhere. He looks like he might even be the no. 1 target in this Bears offense.
Then, of course, there's Cole Kmet, who still offers the Bears a starting-caliber player at the position but checks in at no. 2 in the pecking order.
And then, there's Roush, who looks a lot like Kmet did as a rookie, at least according to those in attendance during his first reps as a pro.
Poles' selection of Roush might have garnered some questions and a little bit of confusion right after the pick was made, but even as the draft went on, we saw several tight ends continue to be taken. Teams are going far more tight-end-heavy in their sets now, a trend we saw Sean McVay use quite often with the Rams last year.
As we know, the NFL is a league of trends. Things change constantly. When one team starts having success using three tight ends on the field at the same time, other teams are going to have to try to keep up.
Fortunately, Poles and the Bears are way ahead of schedule. They might have the best tight end room in football, at this point in time.
And then, you look at the Packers, who so desperately wanted to come away with one in this year's draft but didn't. Packers fans are done with Musgrave. He hasn't been what Green Bay thought he could be, which makes Kraft's emergence over the last couple of years such a pleasant surprise.
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Green Bay is in trouble if they're wanting to keep up with the league's latest trend. Thankfully, the Bears are in a great spot.
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