4 surprise players the Chicago Bears could snag in the 2025 NFL Draft's first round

I love mock drafts, and you love mock drafts, and the person currently reading over your left shoulder at the café loves mock drafts. But as avid mock draft readers—and, for that matter, avid mock draft creators—are well aware, they can get repetitive.

For instance, this week’s Chicago Bears mocks have been all Jeanty, all the time, and that’s fair, as Bears GM Ryan Poles did a wonderful job shoring up the team's trenches earlier this month, thus Chicago now has the flexibility to draft a luxury player, if you will, a guy who doesn’t fill a theoretical need, but rather a want.

And to reiterate, right here and right now,, dynamic Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty seems to be that want.

But should he be?

Actually, yeah, he 100% should, but if Jeanty is off the board when Chicago picks at ten (likely) and Poles still wants to go luxury, there are a handful of potential draftees who could shock and (hopefully) awe both the Bears and Bears Nation.

Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona

McMillan kinda-sorta pooped the bed at his pro day, posting pedestrian 40-dash times of 4.54, 4.55, and 4.57, as compared to Matthew Golden’s blazing 4.29 at the NFL Combine.

But McMillian has been comped to future Canton, Ohio denizen Mike Evans, who ran a blah 4.53 40 at his Combine performance in 2014. But nobody remembers or cares about the theoretically lousy dash, as Evans’ Hall of Fame bust is being manufactured right this very second.

And not for nothin’, but Bears sophomore QB Caleb Williams sure wouldn’t mind a Mike Evans of his own.

Tyler Warren, TE, Penn State

Nor would Caleb thumb his nose at a Travis Kelce wannabe .

Right now, NFL Mock Draft Data Base tell us that 35% of select mockers have Warren going to Indianapolis at the 14-spot, but bringing Kelce Lite into Chicago—especially when incumbent starter Cole Kmet is infinitely meh—wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The fact that since 2000, only five tight ends have been selected in the NFL Draft’s top ten—Kyle Pitts (2021, fourth pick), T.J. Hockenson (2019, eighth pick), Eric Ebron (2014, tenth pick), Vernon Davis (2002, sixth pick), and Kellen Winslow II (2004, sixth pick)—might give Poles pause, but tight end-loving head coach Ben Johnson could attempt to convince Poles that the position is worthy of a day one selection.

Matthew Golden, WR, Texas

Golden’s aforementioned Combine performance—not to mention that he put together a 987-yard, nine-touchdown campaign in 2024—has him climbing up draft boards left and right…but probably not high enough for the Bears to consider at ten.

The key word there being “probably.”

Poles has proven he’s willing to go against the grain in the first round—see: Darnell Wright over Jalen Carter—so if he’s in love with the speedy Longhorn, a big swing could be a thing.

Mykel Williams, EDGE, Georgia

Defensive end is arguably the draft’s deepest position—Poles might have a crack at Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku or Arkansas’ Landon Jackson on day two—but beauty is in the eye of the drafter, and if he agrees with Mel Kiper’s take that Williams is the right fit, anything’s possible.