One pick from the 2025 NFL draft is drawing a lot of attention for the Chicago Bears in a good way. Here's why.
Now that the 2025 NFL draft is done and over, everyone seems to have an opinion about each team’s draft class. The Chicago Bears are no exception. For the most part, the Bears are getting high marks for their 2025 draft selections, which is a good thing for Ben Johnson and company.
In particular, one pick is drawing a lot of attention for the Bears in a good way.
New Chicago Bears Running Back Gets Kudos
The Chicago Bears added Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai with the 233rd overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. While picks in the 200s don’t usually get a lot of attention, this one is getting some praise.
In a May 2 feature for Bleacher Report, NFL analyst and expert Brent Sobleski lays out each team’s best value selection in the draft.
“Each organization has a philosophical approach that will vary, thus creating a prism in how it views prospects,” he noted in the feature. “Once team needs, medical reports and interviews are added to the mix, a front office’s approach will vary greatly.”
So, what makes for a draft pick with a great value? “While looking at some of the biggest value selections of the draft, they can often be found at a devalued positions, specifically running back, which featured a strong position class this year,” Sobleski noted. “A couple of other teams benefit from contemporaries not being as high on the quarterback class.”
Let’s get to the Bears. For Chicago, Sobleski loves Monangai. He notes that while the Bears seemed to be the perfect suitor for Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, that didn’t happen, because the Las Vegas Raiders selected him with the sixth overall pick. But, all was not lost, because the Bears found a diamond in the rough.
“Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai isn’t Jahmyr Gibbs,” Sobleski noted. “The incoming ball-carrier fell all the way to the seventh round because he lacks explosive traits. Even so, very few prospects in this class were as smooth when it came to identifying the hole, making decisive cuts and winding their way through traffic while also finishing with authority.”
More Praise for Kyle Monangai
Another fan of Monangai’s is Dane Brugler of The Athletic, who calls him one of the best running backs in the Big Ten.
“A three-year starter at Rutgers, Monangai was the featured weapon in offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca’s zone-blocking scheme that was built around the run game,” Brugler noted in the article. “Despite being one of the lowest-ranked recruits in Greg Schiano’s 2020 class, Monangai became one of the best running backs in the Big Ten and finished No. 2 in school history with 3,221 rushing yards (behind only Ray Rice).”
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com adds that Monangai is a “short but stout two-time team captain who is bundled tightly into a compact, muscular frame.”
“Monangai is quicker than fast and lacks breakaway speed but can change the track of the run at a moment’s notice with unpredictable cuts at sharp angles,” Zierlein said. “His vision is average and his lack of run-lane discipline will irk offensive line coaches, but he creates yardage out of nowhere and has exceptional contact balance to repel would-be tacklers.”
