C+
Chicago Bears
Flashes of a plan, unevenly run, for the Bears: C+.
by Grumpy Bear ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 1 steals
· 4 reaches
The Bears spent real capital to be 66 picks early on CJ Donaldson, and the board is going to hold them to it. It lands right in the middle: a C+, no more, no less.
Montgomery falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
If Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 25th overall pick they get a two-high chess piece, even if it was a touch early. Need was not the driver here.
A reach on Domonique Orange in pick No. 57; the board had better options right there. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They took Jake Slaughter at par in pick 60, which is nothing to complain about. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A wild overpay on Isaiah World in the Round 3 slot, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A tidy little value on Will Lee III in the 129th pick, a step better than break-even. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They let Tyren Montgomery come to them and pounced at Round 7, Pick 23. A need, and now a little less of one.
A big swing on CJ Donaldson at the 241st pick, well ahead of any board in the building. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.