C+
Chicago Bears
Flashes of a plan, unevenly executed. Bears: C+.
by Kenny proctor ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 2 steals
· 5 reaches
Nobody had Jaishawn Barham this high, and it is not close. The Bears reached 56 spots to get him at slot 60.
They banked enough surplus on Wallace III to cover a lot of smaller sins. For all the activity, interior defensive lineman went untouched, which is hard to explain. The roster is better shaped than it was, with edge rusher chief among the fixes.
Building through the lines is a philosophy, and they stuck to it.
Not a disaster, not a triumph, just a middling class.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get juice off the edge, a steep price for the projection. The biggest hole, addressed.
Keyron Crawford at No. 57 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They talked themselves into Jaishawn Barham at Round 2, Pick 28, and the board did not agree. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They let Keylan Rutledge come to them and pounced at slot 89. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Mikail Kamara this early at the 129th overall pick. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A wide receiver of that caliber at pick 239 is the definition of value, full stop. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Kalil Alexander at Round 7, Pick 25 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.