The Blitz: NFL Combine week is upon us. Who should the Chicago Bears be watching?
It's a big week for a trio of left tackles, plus others to keep an eye on
It’s NFL Combine week — when only the NFL can make working out must-see television for the die-hards that would struggle to beat Rich Eisen in a race.
I’m half-kidding there. This is a big week for the athletes on the field in Indianapolis and the teams hoping to answer questions from game tapes. It’s also a week where some sort of drama always unfolds, whether its a team’s particular set of questions, a player’s refusal to test, leaked results of cognition tests, or Jalen Carter.
We’ll ignore that stuff for today’s purpose.
There’s going to be a lot of interest in three left tackle prospects, which could impact the top of the draft and who is available for the Chicago Bears at No. 10. Players scattered around other positions will also be looking to impress and move their stock up or down in the later days of the draft.
We’re going to take a look at a few of spots the Bears could be watching when things kickoff Thursday. As a reminder the Bears have the following picks in the draft: Round 1 (10); Round 2 (39); Round 2 (41); Round 3 (72); Round 5 (149): Round 6 (197); Round 7 (235); Round 7 (242).
O-line header
A lot of teams will be watching the trio of Will Campbell (LSU), Kelvin Banks Jr. (Texas) and Josh Simmons (Ohio State) this week as the left tackle pecking order is sorted out.
For Campbell and Banks, the interest will mainly be in measurements and whether they stick at left tackle or need to move inside to guard. My personal philosophy here is if a guy can play, he can play and should get a run where he’s comfortable.
That said, Joseph Acosta at SB Nation has a great breakdown of why arm length and hip bend matters for the left tackle position. I’m also extremely intrigued by Willie Lampkin now.
If pre-Combine top-50 rankings are any indication, Campbell is relatively safe as a top-10 prospect as someone with enough high-level game tape, size and a high ceiling at tackle or guard. Banks and Simmons aren’t far apart from each other in either of the two rankings, but differ by a fair amount in actual ranking between the two.
Simmons, to me, has the most to gain out of the three. Campbell can lock in his OT1 status, but if the medicals on the Ohio State tackle’s knee come back fine, he can enter himself into the lead as OT2 and entice a team to take a flyer early on. Free agency depending, the Bears could fall into that mix at No. 10 if Campbell is off the board. Mel Kiper mocked Simmons to the Bears at No. 10 in today’s mock.
Missouri’s Armand Membou is also rising up the boards quickly as a starter-ready tackle and could climb higher with a good week in Indy. He’s currently being mocked ahead of Banks and similar to Simmons across a lot of boards.
Without a standout Combine, however, there’s a chance Chicago is there at No. 10 without a real tackle option on the table there. This week should give Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson a lot of answers if upgrading the blindside is among the tip-top priorities.
Edge rushers on the edge
I’m not exactly on the trade-up bandwagon for the Bears in this draft for reasons best for another write-up. But if Penn State’s Abdul Carter slips past the New York Giants at No. 3 and New England isn’t rushing the podium to take him, I’m making the call and finding out the price.
Carter and Georgia Edge Jalon Walker feel like the consensus prospects to not reach the Bears at No. 10, and after that there’s some fringe top-10 talents who could really improve this week.
Chief among them is Walker’s teammate Mykel Williams, who at 6-5, 265, is among the freakiest physical athletes you’ll find in recent memory. An injury last season flattened his stats, but the physical tools are so tantalizing. There’s a little bit of Tyree Wilson here, but he’ll be drafted at about three years younger than the former Texas A&M standout. He could test his way into the top 10 this week.
Another edge rusher who could show out this week and push the Bears at No. 10 are Marshall’s Mike Green. He had a great Senior Bowl and his Combine testing will be important to help overcome the small school stigma.
With two top-10 picks in the second round, it’s worth watching fringe first rounders in Shemar Stewart (Texas A&M), James Pearce Jr. (Tennessee), Donovan Ezeiruaku (Boston College) and Jack Sawyer (Ohio State). Michigan’s Josiah Stewart and Ohio State’s JT Tuimoloau are also a few names to watch as potential top-50 break-in candidates.
Rest of the trenches
The most important pre-draft read so-far is ESPN’s Matt Miller reporting on the ‘meat and potatoes’ draft. As he notes in the story, teams like the Bears with three top-50 picks )and the Buffalo Billis with three in the top-62) stand to benefit the most from the strengths of this draft. Those strengths happen to align with Chicago’s biggest needs, too.
“There are four, maybe five, blue-chip players,” one NFL general manager said. “After that, it’s 40 guys with a late-first-round or second-round grade.” Scouts view the 2025 class as light on future All-Pros but strong on starters. “You’re going to see a ton of rookie starters from this class because it’s such an experienced group,” an AFC South area scout said. Though the class appears to lack high-end, can’t-miss prospects seen as future stars — such as Caleb Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr. last year — it has fewer players ranked high based purely on potential. As an AFC East area scout put it: “Player No. 15 on your board might have the same grade as No. 50.”
Free agency will dictate a lot of what the Bears will do in April, and considering the offensive tackle dilemma from above, I’d wager Chicago is keeping all options open.
One of those needs to be that Braxton Jones is still the starting left tackle on Week 1. I’m not one of the abandon-hope-on-all-who-enters if this is the case. He’s not great, but he’s starting caliber, and yet if he never plays another down at left tackle that’s also OK.
The offensive line’s biggest needs are center and guard, which could be solved in free agency, but if not then Alabama Guard Tyler Booker needs to be in consideration at No. 10. He’s getting mock drafted often to Miami at No. 13, and is a consensus top-20 prospect, so this isn’t a reach. Booker’s Combine could boost him into a solid top-15 prospect worth the minor reach.
Defensive trenches
There’s also a strong top-end class of defensive tackles the Bears should consider, if available, led by consensus top-10 prospect Mason Graham (Michigan). Can he slide to No. 10? Seems unlikely after Jalen Carter has wrecked the league in his two seasons, but it’s easy rush-to-the-podium pick if he does.
Other DTs that could be in the mid-first to early-second rounds are Walter Nolen (Ole Miss), Derrick Harmon (Oregon) and Kenneth Grant (Michigan). More on the fringe are Darius Alexander (Toledo), Alfred Collins (Texas) and Joshua Farmer (Florida State), who could solidify their standing in the top-50 with a standout performance and land squarely on Chicago’s second round radar.
