Bears Take Surprising Path in New Three-Round 2026 NFL Mock Draft

During the 2025 NFL offseason, the consensus top need for the Chicago Bears was a revamped offensive line, and so most mock drafts had the Bears using the No. 10 pick on the best available offensive lineman. But as we know, general manager Ryan Poles didn't wait that long to shore up the line. He traded a sixth-round pick to the LA Rams for guard Jonah Jackson, then swung a massive trade for All-Pro guard Joe Thuney. That move paid off in spades as Thuney won the first NFL Protector of the Year award at the 2026 NFL Honors ceremony.

Now in the 2026 offseason, the Bears once again need plenty of help in the trenches. This time, however, it's for the defensive line. Most mock drafts you see have the Bears picking up the best available defensive lineman at No. 25, but I have the Bears going a different route in this three-round mock draft.

Here's the best part: the defensive tackle the Bears really need may be available near the end of Round 3. Read on to see who it is.

1. Dillon Thieneman - Safety, Oregon

For the last couple of months, I'd been hoping that the Bears could steal Thieneman in the second round, but the secret about the safety from Oregon appears to be out. Thieneman has been flying up draft boards, and if he's going to be a Bear, they'll need to take him at No. 25.

Some Bears fans may groan at the thought of taking a safety that high, but Thieneman is a special prospect. If it wasn't for Ohio State's Caleb Downs, he'd have been the best safety prospect since Kyle Hamilton. With the Bears likely to part ways with one of their starting safeties from 2025, they need someone who can be a Day 1 starter. Thieneman, one of the best ball-hawking, hard-hitting safeties in college football ever since his freshman year at Purdue, would be exactly that.

Dillon Thienema — Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

2. Derrick Moore - Defensive End, Michigan

It took a while for Moore to get going at Michigan, but once he became a full-time starter, he found success immediately, racking up 10 sacks in 2025 to go with nine QB hits and 21 pressures. He still needs some technical refinement due to his lack of starting experience, but he's got all the athletic tools of an impact starter in the NFL, and the Bears need to trust Dennis Allen to coach him up to his full potential.

3. Skyler Gill-Howard - Defensive Tackle, Texas Tech

To be totally transparent, there are a lot of red flags on Gill-Howard's draft profile. He suffered an ankle injury in October that knocked him out for the rest of the season. He had just one year of experience at the top level of college football, and that was injury-shortened. He's small for a defensive tackle, checking in at six-foot-one and 290 pounds.

But if you look past all that, you see the potential to be one of the biggest steals in NFL draft history. Skyler Gill-Howard's path to Texas Tech is a testament to his willingness to do whatever it takes to be a great football player. He didn't like wrestling in high school, but he did it anyway because he believed it would make him a better football player. He transitioned from linebacker to defensive tackle without a word of complaint. He's shown explosive athleticism, as evidenced by his 55-yard interception return for a touchdown, and he models his game after Aaron Donald, arguably the greatest defensive tackle of all time, who himself was undersized.

This would be a risky pick, no two ways about that. But if the Bears believe they can get the best version of Gill-Howard out of him, then they could be adding one of the best defensive linemen in this storied franchise's history.

More Chicago Bears News:

NFL History Predicts a Super Bowl Title for the Bears in 2026

Colin Cowherd Fires Off a Shocking Caleb Williams Prediction

Mock Trade Sends Bears' Tyson Bagent to NFC Rival

Ranking the Top 6 Chicago Bears Prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft

One Fast Riser in 2026 NFL Draft That Every Bears Fan Should Know

1. Dillon Thieneman - Safety, Oregon

2. Derrick Moore - Defensive End, Michigan

3. Skyler Gill-Howard - Defensive Tackle, Texas Tech

More Chicago Bears News:

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter