As we take stock of the Chicago Bears' 2026 draft class, we can hope they found players who will be mainstays. As it pertains to later picks, we can more specifically hope some gems other teams overlooked were unearthed.
Maybe, someday, a Bear who was just selected in the late rounds will make someone's list of draft steals in that vein.
Focused on the here and now, Bleacher Report's Jeff Diamond is out with a list of the biggest late-round NFL draft steals since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. At No. 6 on the list is former Bears defensive end Richard Dent.
"The 1985 Chicago Bears' defense is considered one of the best of all time. The MVP of the Bears' dominating 46-10 Super Bowl victory was Richard Dent, who had 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and one pass defensed in the game. He added three tackles as part of the run defense that held the Patriots to seven yards."
Dent was the centerpiece of that all-time great 1985 Bears' defense. He led the league with 17 sacks that season, and it was the second of back-to-back seasons where he had at least 17 sacks. He had at least 10.5 sacks in eight of 10 seasons from 1984 to 1993.
Dent spent 12 of his 15 seasons in Chicago (1983-1993, 1995), and he currently ranks 11th on the all-time sack list with 137.5 sacks. He was also a force when it mattered most, with 10.5 sacks in 12 career playoff games. Between the regular season and the playoffs, he forced a total of 44 fumbles.
After a long stretch as an eligible candidate and multiple years as a finalist, Dent's election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 was well-earned.
One fact proves just what a draft steal Richard Dent was
Coming out of Tennessee State, and with it far more difficult to get a full array of information about draft prospects than it is today, Dent was probably easy to overlook during the 1983 pre-draft process.
Dent was an eighth-round pick, No. 203 overall, in an era with fewer NFL teams and no compensatory picks for players lost in free agency. The round was taken in doesn't even exist anymore, and it hasn't existed for a long time as the league has made the draft into a television-friendly, marquee event.
Read more: Ben Johnson says it all about what a difference a year makes for the Bears
We may eventually get to a point where players like Dent, taken in a draft round that no longer exists, don't make lists of all-time late-round steals. But a top-10 acknowledgment on Diamond's list brings how great his career was into well-deserved new light.
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