Bear Digest

How the Chicago Bears could justify a cornerback drafted at No. 10

The 10th position in the draft looks like a spot where the best available athletes might be two cornerbacks and there could be a case made for the Bears drafting one.

Gene Chamberlain

Michigan cornerback Will Johnson races back an interception against Fresno State.
Michigan cornerback Will Johnson races back an interception against Fresno State. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
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With less than three weeks remaining before the 2025 NFL Draft, the direction the Bears and GM Ryan Poles take with their first pick at No. 10 overall couldn't be more unclear.

Through most of the earlier run up to the draft, their need for offensive line help seemed obvious and then free agency's success at these positions changed this to a large extent. At least it changed for this season, anyway.

Mock drafts had them taking linemen like LSU's Will Campbell, Missouri's Armand Membou, Ohio States' Josh Simmons or Texas' Kelvin Banks. A few have running back Ashton Jeanty getting past the Raiders at No. 6 and becoming an obvious Bears target, but this seems unlikely.

The NFL Mock Draft Data Base is currently drawing knowledge off of 1,160 posted mock drafts and the consensus for the Bears is a lack of one.

Among the first 15 picks on this website's consensus mock draft, no pick has less degree of certainty than the pick posted for the Bears. The pick is tight end Tyler Warren from Penn State but he is only their pick on 14% of mock drafts.

A player like Warren would help coach Ben Johnson explore his creative side but would do little to help team speed or protect Caleb Williams.

It wouldn't give the Bears the all-purpose threat they seem to lack with their running game, D'Andre Swift being more of a speed back and Roschon Johnson a little-used power back.

"The beautiful thing of what we did in free agency—we talked about this a few weeks ago—is I really believe that we can look at the draft as a situation where you take best available, which is really important," Poles told media members at the NFL owners meetings.

If the Bears seriously and objectively look at the athletes available to them at No. 10, they could decide based on best available that their top options might be trading back or taking a player at a position where they appear to have no need.

The problem with trading back is you need a partner to do it.

The problem with the other route, with best available athlete, is it appears you wasted a chance to solve a major need by taking a talented player who becomes overflow at his position. But really, how bad is this?

To this regard, two players at one position seem to be candidates who would no doubt strengthen the Bears on defense but keep them from solving a problem. These would be cornerbacks Will Johnson from Michigan and Jahdae Barron from Texas.

The Bears sent a full contingent to Michigan's pro day and while much speculation revolved around interest in defensive tackle Mason Graham or tight end Colston Loveland, Johnson makes much more sense for them. Graham isn't falling all the way to No. 10. If he did, then it's a no-brainer choice.

Johnson is regarded as 13th on Pro Football Focus' big board, but Barron is No. 7 on it.

The thing is, Johnson didn't work out at that pro day the Bears were at because he sustained a hamstring injury and instead he now has a private workout for teams slated for April 14.

Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda reported the Bears did meet with Barron, but not necessarily a 30 visit. It was reported the day of the Texas pro day and two other teams were said to be meeting with him the same day, so that more than likely was a pro day type of meeting because players don't go to three different 30 visits at teams' facilities in one day.

When starting cornerback Tyrique Stevenson generated so much negativity last year on a few dumb plays, a case could easily be made for going to someone else at the position and doing it with a first-round pick definitely wouldn't hurt.

Then there is another possibility.

At the combine, Barron was asked about the possibility teams might think of him as a safety rather than a cornerback.

"Most definitely, a few teams have talked to me about playing safety, either nickel or just with run fits," Barron said. "It's all been a blessing.

"A lot of teams asked me which I preferred. I told them I want to play all of them. It always was beneficial to me. (DB) coach (Terry) Joseph taught me if I could know all of them, I'd have a better understanding of what everybody's job was supposed to be, when I was at different positions, knowing everybody's responsibilities. It allowed me to play much faster, knowing his point was A to B and my point was C to D. Things like that. I put it together and made it my little chess game."

His experience has been a cornerback but he actually did play in different places.

"I'm definitely confident in zone and man," he said. "I played man in the slot. I played man even in our zone coverage. Our cover-3 was a match-3."

A defensive back entirely confident in matching up man to man wherever is something defensive coordinator Dennis Allen could use because he's much more likely to have a man-to-man coverage used than the former Bears regime did. In his last full season as head coach, 2023, only four teams used more man-to-man coverage than the Saints did under Allen. The Saints (32.2%) used it almost twice as often as the Bears (17.6%) did.

When it's approached from this standpoint, Bears interest in either of those cornerbacks makes a lot more sense.

Draft experts would tell you drafting one then regardless of immediate need would make much more sense than reaching to take a running back like North Carolina's Omarion Hampton, who many see as a later first-rounder or second-rounder.

It would be much the same logic as loading up on the offensive line by taking a tackle or guard who might not get to play much until 2026.

Few could have argued the logic of this if the Bears used their 10th pick this way. It should apply on defense, as well.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.