We shall mock draft until we can mock draft no more!
Hold on, let’s tweak that: We shall mock draft until the final pick of the NFL Draft is made!
Wait, one more: We shall never stop mock drafting, ever!
Yeah, that last one is more like it. Y’see, NFL mock drafting is fun, and it doesn’t cost us anything, so it’s a 24/7/365 proposition.
Mocks are even more enjoyable when they drop right around a key NFL date: The morning after the Super Bowl…the middle of NFL Combine…
The weekend before free agency.
As this is being written, we’re about 72 hours away from the kickoff of the legal tampering period, and of course we don’t yet know who Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles is targeting.
Oh, we have some ideas, of course:
- Trenches on both sides of the ball are a priority, so center Drew Dalman and EDGE Josh Sweat are likely very much in the mix.
- Poles might be eyeing an affordable young WR3, so Hollywood Brown or Darius Slayton could be a thing.
- Or Chicago could surprise everybody and throw a mid-sized pile of money at a productive veteran tight end like Evan Engram.
The free agents who get a Halas Hall keycard will have a major impact on the Bears’ approach for the 2025 NFL Draft…but the keys are still in the, um, key box, so here’s how we picture the Bears’ draft might look before we see their free agency haul.
ROUND 1 (10)
Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State
Since Chicago shored up their trenches with the acquisitions of OGs Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, offensive line becomes less of a crying need, thus Poles is able to gift rookie head coach Ben Johnson with a potentially generational running back to pair with his potentially generational quarterback, Caleb Williams.
TRADE
Chicago receives:
- EDGE Trey Hendrickson
Cincinnati receives:
- Chicago’s 2025 second round pick via CAR (39)
- Chicago’s 2026 third round pick
The Bears were able to snag 32-year-old Thuney—arguably one of the league’s top five O-lineman—for a 2026 fourth rounder, so the market value for a thirtysomething stud feels reasonable. That being the case, this deal—which nets Chicago arguably one of the NFL’s top five D-linemen—feels like it hits the sweet spot for both franchises.
ROUND TWO (41)
Elijah Arroyo, TE, Miami
The Hendrickson acquisition gives Poles the flexibility to grab a skill player who’s been comped to Zach Ertz and Kyle Pitts. Arroyo would immediately become Johnson’s Sam LaPorta 2.0…and LaPorta, it should be noted, was another tight end drafted high in the second round.
ROUND THREE (72)
Jayden Higgens, WR, Iowa State
Can’t you imagine Johnson pestering Poles to go offense-offense-offense? Yeah, so can we, and the new head coach lands the speedy WR3 he so craves and deserves.
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