Bear Digest

Chicago Bears signal 2025 NFL Draft strategy by hosting Oregon star for Top 30 visit

The Chicago Bears are using one of their valuable pre-draft top 30 visits on a player who may have tipped GM Ryan Poles' 2025 NFL draft plan.

Bryan Perez

David Banks-Imagn Images
In this story:

Clues about the 2025 NFL Draft are everywhere this time of year. They can be gathered by noting which general managers are on-site during prospect pro days and monitoring which players schedule an all-important top-30 visit with a particular team.

In the case of the Chicago Bears, we learned of one of their top 30 visits this week: Oregon offensive tackle Josh Conerly.

Conerly, who many consider to be one of the few true left tackle prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft, is expected to rank high on GM Ryan Poles' board as he attempts to complete a massive overhaul of the Bears' offensive line this offseason.

Poles has already upgraded three starting jobs: left guard, right guard, and center. He drafted Darnell Wright in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft to man the right tackle role for many years.

If math isn't your strength, that's 80% of the offensive line that's set for 2025 and beyond.

Chicago Bears offensive tackle Braxton Jones (70) defends against Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr.
Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Left tackle remains a question mark, however. Sure, Braxton Jones has been awesome relative to his 2022 fifth-round draft stock, but settling for a really cool draft success story shouldn't be the bar the Chicago Bears set for this offensive line. Instead, the starting left tackle should be one of, if not the best lineman on the team.

The 2025 NFL Draft will give Poles a chance to add a guy like that, perhaps as early as 10th overall. Prospects like LSU's Will Campbell would make sense, even if his arms are shorter than just about any starting left tackle in the league right now. Missouri's Armand Membou has been a right tackle throughout his college career, but his athletic ability had no peers during the 2025 NFL Combine. There's also Ohio State's Josh Simmons, who, but for a serious knee injury this season, may have been the first offensive lineman selected in Round 1.

So, yeah, the Bears have options at left tackle, including Conerly, who's considered by most draft analysts to be a fringe-first-round prospect.

Bleacher Report's Brandon Thorn, a recognized expert in offensive line play, issued a second-round grade to Conerly in his pre-draft scouting report.

"Overall, Conerly has good athletic ability, recovery skills, and the frame of a starting tackle," Thorn wrote. "However, he shows rudimentary footwork in the run game and lapses in pass protection technique that signal him as a potential starter early on. But he is young enough to work his way into a starting role within his rookie contract."

The fact that the Chicago Bears are using one of their top 30 visits on an offensive tackle confirms that the position is, at the very least, in play in the early rounds of the 2025 draft. And while that may seem like an obvious statement, the fact is there's nothing obvious when it comes to the NFL Draft.

If the Bears use their first-round pick on an edge rusher or even Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, a player like Conerly would be a fantastic value in the second round, especially for a roster like Chicago's, that's a true offensive tackle away from one of the best offseason rehab projects in the NFL.

—  Enjoy free coverage of the Bears from Chicago Bears on SI  —

More Chicago Bears News:

Published
Bryan Perez
BRYAN PEREZ

Bryan Perez founded and operated Bears Talk, a Chicago sports blog. Prior to that, he covered the Bears for USA Today’s Bears Wire and NBC Sports Chicago. In addition to his Chicago Bears coverage, Perez is a respected member of NFL Draft media and was a past winner of The Huddle's Mock Draft competition. Bryan's past life includes time as a Northeast scout for the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks.

Home/News