Even during the good times in Chicago, Bears general manager Ryan Poles is putting in the work to ensure the team has plenty of options when they enter the 2026 NFL Draft.
FanSided's Ryan Fowler was told by sources that the Bears had scouts attend the Clemson Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks showdown in the final week of the college football regular season. While it's not clear who Poles wanted the scouts to focus on specifically, there have been suggestions on who the Bears were targeting.
Bears and NFL analyst Jacob Infante shared his list of players he thought could be good candidates for Chicago. One name stood out as the best choice for the team to fill a position of need.
The #Bears had scouts at Clemson-South Carolina, per @_RyanFowler_
— Jacob Infante (@jacobinfante24) November 30, 2025
Good prospect fits from those teams:
Clemson:
• EDGE T.J. Parker
• DT DeMonte Capehart
• S Khalil Barnes
• OT Blake Miller
• OT Tristan Leigh
South Carolina:
• S Jalon Kilgore
• CB Judge Collier
T.J. Parker might be a good fit for the Bears
Parker's production has not been quite as good as it was in his first two seasons in college this year, due to the Tigers' poor play. He's still putting up good numbers as he finished the regular season with 37 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, three fumble recoveries, and one pass deflection.
Chicago has a big need at defensive end as the team got basically nothing out of Dayo Odeyingbo after just one sack in eight games before his season-ending injury. Outside of Montez Sweat, the pass rush of the Bears has not been good.
Despite the Bears' impressive 24-15 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13, one of the very few rough performances from Chicago's side was the pass rush. They totaled just one quarterback hit and zero sacks in the win.
There's still some hope that Austin Booker will develop into the second pass rusher the team needs. After getting his first sack of the season in his first game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Booker has only five quarterback hits and zero sacks in the last four games.
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Parker would be a perfect late first-round pick for Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen to develop into a rotational edge rusher in his rookie season. Chicago needs to figure out something at defensive end, and Parker makes all the sense in the world.