Bears Enter 2026 Draft With Seven Selections
- The Chicago Bears finished the 2026 NFL Draft with seven picks, opening at No. 25 with Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman and closing after three trades. - Chicago added center Logan Jones at No. 57, then turned pick No. 60 into No. 69 and No. 144 before reshaping Day 3. - The class split four defenders and three offensive picks after Chicago’s playoff run and roster turnover. (chicagobears.com)
The Chicago Bears left the 2026 National Football League Draft with seven players after opening at No. 25 and making three trades across the weekend. (chicagobears.com) (sports.yahoo.com) Their first pick was Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman at No. 25 on Thursday, a move Chicago said was about speed, versatility and immediate help in the secondary. (chicagobears.com) (espn.com) Thieneman ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at the combine and finished his college career with 306 tackles and eight interceptions across Purdue and Oregon. (chicagobears.com) On Friday, the Bears used No. 57 on Iowa center Logan Jones, the 2025 Rimington Trophy winner, after Drew Dalman’s retirement created an unexpected opening at center. (chicagobears.com) (cbsnews.com) Chicago then traded No. 60 to Tennessee for No. 69 and No. 144, using the third-rounders on Stanford tight end Sam Roush and Louisiana State wide receiver and returner Zavion Thomas. (nbcchicago.com) (sports.yahoo.com) (cbsnews.com) Roush caught 49 passes for 545 yards in 2025 at Stanford, while Thomas ran a 4.28-second 40 and brings return-game production from Mississippi State and Louisiana State. (nbcchicago.com) (cbsnews.com) Day 3 swung back to defense. Chicago traded picks 129 and 144 to Carolina for picks 124 and 166, then took Texas defensive back Malik Muhammad and Arizona State linebacker Keyshaun Elliott. (sports.yahoo.com) (abc7chicago.com) The Bears also packaged both seventh-round picks, No. 239 and No. 241, to Buffalo for No. 213 and selected Georgia Tech defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg. (sports.yahoo.com) (abc7chicago.com) The final class was Thieneman, Jones, Roush, Thomas, Muhammad, Elliott and van den Berg — four defenders and three offensive players. (chicagobears.com) (sports.yahoo.com) Chicago entered the draft after an 11-6 season, an NFC North title and a divisional-round loss to the Los Angeles Rams, so the class was built to patch immediate holes without a top-20 pick. (cbsnews.com) (nbcchicago.com) That is the shape of Chicago’s 2026 draft: a first-round safety, a new center pipeline, added speed on offense, and late trades to restock the defense. (espn.com) (sports.yahoo.com)
