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For the most part, the Chicago Bears' 2025 NFL Draft class was a win. They had to go into enemy territory to pull it off, but ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. believes the team will look back on the class in a few years as a big success.
After a couple of trades, the Bears ended the draft with eight new players on their roster. Kiper agrees that Chicago nailed the majority of its picks, but still believes general manager Ryan Poles left out one big positional need.
“But where are the pass rushers?” Kiper wrote. “The Bears' edge defenders had a pass-rush win rate of 10.2 percent, which was the third-worst in the NFL last season. Shemar Turner is versatile, but he's primarily an interior defensive lineman… I was thinking we might see at least one edge rusher among the Bears' eight picks.
“That was enough to knock Chicago down to a B+. Otherwise, I was a fan of its picks, which seem very centered on elevating [Caleb] Williams' game in 2025.”
Barring any new additions, the Bears will enter training camp with Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo as their starting edge rushers. Sweat returns to the team after leading Chicago with 5.5 sacks in 2024, while Odeyingbo joined them in the offseason after four years with the Indianapolis Colts.
Bears' 2025 NFL Draft class
Kiper was most positive about the Bears' picks of Colston Loveland, Luther Burden III and Ozzy Trapilo, each of whom he believes will immediately elevate the team's offense. He also predicted that seventh-round pick Kyle Monangai will be a bigger factor in 2025 than most late-round rookies tend to be.
The Bears' entire draft class included Loveland, Burden, Trapilo, Shemar Turner, Ruben Hyppolite II, Zah Frazier, Luke Newman and Monangai. They twice traded back — in the second and fourth rounds, respectively — with the Buffalo Bills to net themselves a handful of additional picks.
Overall, Chicago spent all but three of its picks on offensive players despite taking a primary offensive focus in free agency. The approach should not be surprising, given the clear direction Poles had in mind by hiring Ben Johnson as his answer to the mess Matt Eberflus left behind.
Burden and Trapilo figure to be immediate day-one starters of their incoming rookie class. Loveland and Turner will have to prepare for intense positional battles, but are also candidates to start in Week 1.
