The 2026 NFL Draft will offer some great options for the Chicago Bears as they focus on getting their defense to perform better than it did last year.
After finishing in the bottom 10 in total defense, the Bears are looking to get younger and faster on that side of the ball. NFL.com's Gennaro Filice shared the team's biggest goal for the draft: finding a safety early on.
"Continuing to foster Caleb Williams’ growth is obviously paramount, so I nearly suggested that the Bears’ biggest draft goal is obtaining Ozzy Trapilo insurance. But even if the left tackle’s serious knee injury bleeds into next season, Chicago did re-sign Braxton Jones, who started 44 games on the blind side over the past four seasons. Meanwhile, the pass rush definitely could use more juice, but the most pressing need on that side of the ball is at safety. The Bears lost their top four players at the position in free agency, and while they signed Coby Bryant to a lucrative deal, the other safety spot remains a huge question mark. And Chicago’s first-round pick, at No. 25 overall, comes right in a range where a coveted safety prospect like Dillon Thieneman or Emmanuel McNeil-Warren could be available."
Bears urged to get a safety in the first round
The losses of Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker were expected, but still a massive hit to the secondary. Chicago also lost Nahshon Wright and C.J. Gardner-Johnson from the secondary, leaving the depth of the unit to be pretty thin.
Bryant was a great signing for the Bears after winning the Super Bowl last season with the Seattle Seahawks. That experience will be good, but he is similar to Byard and Brisker in the fact that he's a playmaker at safety.
Selecting someone like Thieneman and McNeil-Warren would be crucial to what appears to be the biggest flaw in the roster. Adding one of them would relieve the Bears of the stress of dealing with other issues in the secondary. Plus, it gives Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen a chance to develop young guys there for the next four to five years.
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While getting a safety may not be clear-cut to everyone, it is something they have to accomplish early on in the draft, even if it isn't in the first round.