How Many Year 1 Contributors Do The Chicago Bears Need This Draft?

The Chicago Bears return most of the players who helped them to a top 10 offense last season, but the defense was subpar by many metrics in 2025. While the bulk of their free agency budget was spent on defense, most of their additions were just plugging holes from guys who left. It can be argued that they upgraded at a couple of those positions, but the level of that upgrade wasn’t significant.

The defense could improve due to better scheme fits, but that side of the ball still needs a talent infusion.

Luckily, the NFL Draft is in a few weeks, but what are the odds that the Bears can find a few immediate year-one contributors?

How many year-one contributors do you think they need to draft to make a difference in 2026?

I posed that question on social media, and the most popular answer was three, which I agree with.

I guess we’ll need to define what a “contributor” is. So, for the sake of this article, can we say a starter definitely counts as a contributor? And how about a rookie who is in the regular rotation on the defensive line? I’d say an important part of any defense is the DT3 or DE3 who spells the starters. Nickel is the new base, so a suppackage defensive back certainly counts as a contributor. So what about a reserve running back or receiver who regularly plays? I’m not talking about a few snaps a week, I mean a player who is part of the weekly game plan. That counts, right?

Using that loose criteria, last year’s draft class had 4 who made an impact as rookies: Colston Loveland, Luther Burden III, Ozzy Trapillo, and Kyle Monangai. Sure, Trapillo began the year as a reserve, but he eventually earned the starting left tackle job.

In 2024, the Bears had Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze in the first round, and Tory Taylor was technically a starter, while Austin Booker was DE4. Let’s call this 3 contributors.

In 2023, the Bears found their ‘25 All-Pro right tackle Darnell Wright, a starting corner in Tyrique Stevenson, and a DT3 in Gervon Dexter Sr. But did you realize Roschon Johnson played the most snaps of all the running backs that season (395), that Tyler Scott had the third most receiver reps in ‘23 due to some injuries and a trade (439), and Terell Smith started 4 games at corner while amassing 377 snaps on D? Heck, even Zacch Pickens was DT4 as a rookie. This is at least 3 solid rookie contributors, although an argument could be made that it’s more.

In Ryan Poles’ first draft, 2022, he came away with Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, and Braxton Jones, who all started as rookies. But he also got Dominique Robinson, who started 7 games at defensive end while racking up the second most DE snaps (550), plus a starting punter, Trenton Gill. That’s at least 4 contributors again.

The Bears’ most glaring needs right now are a starting safety and help on the defensive line, so could they find a safety and two rotational defensive linemen on the first two days among picks 25, 57, 60, and 89?

Recent history suggests that they can certainly find a few year-one contributors in this draft, but do you think the rookie class will be enough help in 2026, or should they still look to free agency or trade to bolster the roster for this season?

Sound off in the comments!