Bear Digest

Bears only NFC North team officially without compensatory picks

The Bears were not one of the teams officially given compensatory draft picks Tuesday and none were expected, but the other NFC North teams received them.
Gene Chamberlain|
The scene in Detroit last spring when Rome Odunze's selection was announced at the 2024 NFL Draft.
The scene in Detroit last spring when Rome Odunze's selection was announced at the 2024 NFL Draft. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The NFL announced its compensatory picks, and as was already known and expected the Bears received none.

However, the assignment of the picks did affect draft order. The official Bear picks are unchanged early.

On the first two days, they draft 10th in Round 1, 39th overall in Round 2, 41st overall in Round 2 and 72nd overall in Round 3.

In the fifth round, they draft 148th overall, in the sixth they pick 202nd and in the final round they pick 233rd overall and 240th.

The second-round pick is the last pick they receive from Carolina in the trade down from No. 1 in 2023. Their sixth-round pick is from Houston, the first seventh-rounder from Cincinnati and the last pick from the Vikings.

The Lions, 49ers and Rams each received extra picks at the end of Round 3 for losing minority members hired to be head coach or a primary executive. These were picks like the Bears would have received had Ian Cunningham been hired by Jacksonville as GM.

Regular compensatory picks are based on a formula for free agents lost that includes their salary, playing time and postseason honors. The league has never divulged the exact formula.

The Ravens, Cowboys, Dolphins and 49ers received the most compensatory picks with four each. The Chargers and Seahawks lost three each.

In the NFC North, besides the Lions' extra pick, one pick each was awarded to the Vikings and Packers. The Vikings' pick is a third-round pick and the Packers' is a seventh-round pick.

The last Bears compensatory pick was the 258th pick near the end of Round 7, used for safety Kendall Williamson.

Overthecap.com last week released a list of teams with the likelihood of compensatory picks in 2026 and the Beras were on the low side for chances to receive some. However, the signing by Darrell Taylor in Houston, Larry Borom signing with Miami and coming expected signings of Keenan Allen and Teven Jenkins could alter this.

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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.