Super Bowl RB thought (and hoped?) his draft call was coming from the Bears

With Ben Johnson coming aboard as head coach, the Chicago Bears were clearly in the market for a running back last offseason. By the same token, the effort was not forced, and any attempt to add someone alongside D'Andre Swift in free agency didn't bear fruit.

Shifting to the draft, it was a lead-pipe lock the Bears were going to draft a running back. With the 10th overall pick they were not in position to take Ashton Jeanty, who they apparently liked a lot. After that, after reported effort to trade up for someone, they ended up waiting until their final pick to take Kyle Monangai.

Hindsight being 20/20, everyone in Chicago is happy to have ended up with Monangai. But there's always some "what could have been" in play, if that effort to trade up and draft the running back they wanted had come to fruition for the Bears.

Super Bowl running back thought the Bears were drafting him

If the Bears had been able to trade up in the second round of the 2025 draft to get the running back they coveted most, they would not have been able to take wide receiver Luther Burden at pick No. 39. Sometimes, things just work out how they're supposed to.

That running back the Bears reportedly wanted to trade up for spoke about his draft experience during Super Bowl Opening Night.

"When I was getting the call, my TV was a little delayed, and the Chicago Bears, I thought they were up," New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson said, via CHGO.

"And when I got the phone call I thought that it was the Chicago Bears, and they told me it was the New England Patriots, I was smiling but my heart sunk at the same time because during the draft process everyone was telling me Patriots is the last team, the last one that you want to go to. I'm believing whatever they said. I'm trying to dodge the Patriots at all costs. But then I got picked by them, and it was such a crazy moment."

One pick before the Bears were on the clock in the second round, and perhaps after turning down a trade offer from general manager Ryan Poles, the Patriots stayed put and took Henderson. He followed with a nice rookie season, topping 1,100 yards from scrimmage with 10 total touchdowns, and now he's going to play in the Super Bowl to end it.

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While Henderson would be an intriguing weapon in Ben Johnson's offense, the Bears ending up with Burden and Monangai instead was absolutely a win. And while Henderson wanted to avoid being drafted by the Patriots, it worked out very well for him, too.