Around the NFC North: Bears Draft
Onto the Bears.
By Mike Price
Dillon Thieneman
The ears started out by taking a safety from Oregon. Thieneman had a great 40-time but didn't do the agility drills. He has no relevant athletic comps on mockdraftable - not something I've seen before.
He can play multiple spots, but probably profiles to be a deep safety in Dennis Allen's system. He profiles like a jack of all trades type who isn't really amazing at any one thing.
Thieneman isn't really an exciting first pick, but he definitely fits a need for the Bears.
Logan Jones
Jones is on the smaller side for an NFL o-linemen, coming in under 300 pounds. His closest athletic comp is former Badger Tanner Bortolini.
Jones is an incredible athlete, but was projected to go in the 3rd or 4th because of his limited size and strength. And also limited experience pass blocking coming from Iowa.
The Bears needed a center after Drew Dalman retired and they took one, I guess. We'll see if he beats out Garret Bradbury.
Sam Roush
Roush is huge, coming in at 6'6 267 pounds. He will be the blocking tight end next to Colston Loveland.
Roush can catch the ball, but he's not really going to create much. Look for the Bears to leverage him in the run game and use him as a distraction to get the ball to Loveland in the pass game.
Zavion Thomas
Thomas is a water bug type of WR who projected to go in the 6th. He didn't show much as a receiver in college, but he did as a returner.
Thomas ran a 4.28 40 and is almost a clone of Bo Melton with 96% athletic similarity. He may develop into a plus starter in the Bears' 11-personnel, but it's more likely that he will always be a field stretcher/gadget guy.
Malik Muhammad
This draft felt like a needs-first type of draft - almost like the team took their top available guy at a position of choice each round, and the final top 4-round selection was a corner in Malik Muhammad.
Muhammad's top athletic comp is Kyu Blu Kelly who had lunch with the Packers at one time.
Muhammad is the first pick who I really thought was better than his draft spot. He's a good pattern-match corner and could start for this team in year 1.
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Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved from Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
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Comments (3)
golfpacker61
May 19, 2026 at 11:42 am
I really think I like our guy Burton more than Logan Jones and I am an Iowa fan. If Burton had been at Iowa in Ferentz's OL factory instead of at Kentucky, he would have been rated higher and we wouldn't have got him.
Sam Roush was my #1 TE I desperately wanted as a Packer. He would have ended our need for a Y TE and our need for Musgrave as a Packer. I hate that he is a Bear, they are absolutely loaded and might have the best TE room in the NFL.
Malik Muhammed would have been welcome in GB. I like Cisse but I don't see him as that much better than Muhammed. But Muhammed is not head and shoulders better than Domani Jackson either. At least we finally started to put the CB room back together. I am happy with our guys but would have loved the Ohio State CB.
It doesn't show here but Chicago also got a late round guy I wanted for GB, Van Den Berg-DT Georgia Tech. A real sleeper who could surprise.
Cheezehead72
May 19, 2026 at 11:56 am
Good comment. I thought the Bears had the best draft in the division. To me right now they are the team to beat in the division.
WorseWisconsin
May 19, 2026 at 05:05 pm
First, I'll just give kudos to the packers fans showing quite a bit of objectivity in evaluating an in-division rival. I even agree with much of the opinions I've seen here so far.
A few thoughts:
1) My biggest issue with the Bears draft wasn't that they didn't take a DT early, or a DE at all (though I do think it would have been warranted). They really just need Sweat-to-be-Sweat and for 1 of Turner, Booker or Odeyingbo to grow in order for the '26 pass rush to be better than '25. It's a low bar.
The biggest issue is that they didn't really address OG. While Thuney and Jackson where solid and a huge improvement, there's nothing behind them, both are-or-will be 30+ with contracts that expire in a season-or-2. The Bears were lucky injury-wise at Guard, and they're not likely to have the same luck in '26.
2) I agree that Jones was taken earlier than he should have been. I personally think Slaughter will probably turn out to be the better Center, but time will tell. I also agree that Burton has good potential, and was someone I thought the bears could take in R4 pre-draft, and he is big enough to be a backup OG while being groomed for Center. While I think Jones will be a better Center than Burton, Jones has no positional flexibility.
3) the only thing I'll (respectfully) disagree with is the notion that the Bears focused on needs. I actually think they did too much of the opposite: they clearly needed DE1-2, DT1-2 and OG3 more than a TE3 or a WR4, but they drafted a TE3 and a WR4 anyways; they clearly thought they were the best players on the board at the time (which I have a hard time believing, but time will tell).