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Exploring the Knock on Each of Ryan Poles' 2026 Bears Draft Picks

It's definitely not a perfect draft by the Bears in a general sense, and even if the players all were direct system fits there were knocks on these players.
Gene Chamberlain|
Sam Roush has some issues to overcome, but his blocking is not one of them.
Sam Roush has some issues to overcome, but his blocking is not one of them. | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Chicago Bears video

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While new Bears safety Dillon Thieneman had what seemed like a unanimous ranking as the draft's second-best safety, he still has flaws.

Thieneman was taken the earliest any second drafted safety has came off the board since Derwin James in 2018, but the Bears wouldn't have been able to draft him if he was flawless. Someone would have taken him before 25.


Even No. 1 safety Caleb Downs had flaws, but not as many as Thieneman apparently, because he went 11th overall to Dallas.The draft process weeds out the imperfections. Every Bears pick had some kind of issue, besides the fact that none of them played defensive end and could rush the passer off the edge.

Here are the major flaws that must be overcome in each of the seven 2026 Bears draft picks.

25. Dillon Thieneman

Although Thieneman was Pro Football Focus' 11th-ranked prospect, there were a few flaws noted by various scouting reports in the first Bears safety chosen in Round 1 since Mark Carrier in 1990. The main ones involved tackling, especially in run support. He comes in so fast that sometimes he's not able to break it down and execute the proper tackle. "Full speed alley running leads to greater hit/miss variability," was how Lance Zierlein of NFL.com put it. "Average stopping power when bringing down bigger bodies."

57. C Logan Jones

The obvious one with Jones was short arms. Long arms aren't necessarily important to centers but Jones' 30 3/4-inch arms were noted as a detriment by Pro Football Focus and a reason they graded him only 95th best player, and behind centers Connor Lew (80), Sam Hecht (84), and Jake Slaughter (90).

"He moves well laterally and shows good hand usage, but his outlier-short arm length creates challenges sustaining blocks and handling longer defenders," PFF wrote.

69. TE Sam Roush

While Roush's blocking and effort is applauded by everyone, it's his ability as a receiver that's most often questioned. He doesn't seem to get open on the shorter routes and that's what he runs most often, as an in-line tight end.

"As a receiver, he’s not stiff, but he lacks elusiveness underneath," wrote Zierlein.

Could it be he actually does get open but his arms aren't long enough to let him get to the ball? They're even shorter than Jones' arms at 30-5/8 inches, bottom 1% or all tight ends ever at the combine.

89. WR Zavion Thomas

PFF had graded him only 213th and The Athletic's Dane Brugler graded him as a seventh-round pick. Perhaps two words used by Brugler in his description sum up the main problem best, and it must be a real issue because most of the descriptions of Thomas' skillset are glowing: "...lacks ideal polish, but brings all kinds of juice to threaten opponents in different ways."

The Bears seemed to admit this themselves when Ryan Poles made it sound like learning the offense and routes would be an issue to overcome.

"It's a challenging system," Poles said. "So maybe that role starts small and it grows over time, but I don't want to put a cap on it. If he comes in and downloads fast and is up and running, then we'll see what happens.”

124. CB Malik Muhammad

His slim build is going to need to be worked on in the weight room, although NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah had thought he would be a third-round pick. Muhammad didn't seem to see the problem when asked about it on draft day.

Nevertheless, NFL.com's Zierlein saw the problems with this despite his 4.42-second speed: "Slender frame could require a move inside. ... Can get outmuscled from press and inside the pattern. ... Lack of tackle strength shows up in open field at times."

166. LB Keyshaun Elliott

Elliott met with generally positive predraft assessments and was called a third-round pick by Brugler and late third or early fourth by PFF. However, Zierlein's scouting report provides this bit of insight: "Poor speed leaves little margin for error in diagnosis."

The speed explains why Zierlein said he "Can be exploited in the passing game," and why he also wrote "Lacks short-area quickness and reactive athleticism."

Perhaps this all came about from the fact Elliott didn't run the 40 at the combine. Nevertheless, Elliott stood the scouting report on its ear by running 4.58 seconds in the 40 at his pro day.

213. DT Jordan van den Berg

It's tough to be overly critical of a 300-pounder who graded athletically at the combine as high as van den Berg did but CBS Sports came out with one rap on him that hardly seems an issue because it applies to most defensive tackles drafted in Round 6.

"Lacks high-end pass-rush moves," they wrote in a predraft assessment, which explained their other comment: "Limited sack production: four over the past two seasons at Georgia Tech and two in three seasons at Penn State."

If the Bears only get a run stopper out of a sixth-round pick they will ultimately be satisfied with their trade up to make this selection using two seventh-round picks.

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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.

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