Now that Sam Roush, the Chicago Bears third-round pick from the 2026 NFL Draft, has officially signed his deal its time to look at what their impact is gonna be. Of course, for any NFL team your looking for one thing: success. That comes in many ways in a given season but no team can win without an elite head coach or quarterback. That also means you gotta be able to draft well so lets take a look shall we.
Chicago Bears 2026 Draft Class Signed: What Is Their Impact?
Bears 2026 Draft Class
The Bears 2025 draft class was nothing short of exceptional. Head coach Ben Johnson put a focus on just bringing in football players that he along with general manager Ryan Poles identified to fit in the culture in Chicago. They came out of it with four offensive capable players in Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, Ozzy Trapilo and Kyle Monangai. Now comes the 2026 draft class looking to make their mark.
We start the Bears’ 2026 dradt class out with Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman. Bears moved on from both Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker in the offseason and replaced one with Coby Bryant leaving the other spot vacant. Thieneman was a day one starter who can play off of Bryant and give defensive coordinator Dennis Allen games to play with opposing offenses with both his safeties. Projected to go higher than 25th but the Bears didn’t overthink it when he did fall and took him.
Iowa center Logan Jones became the next player of thr Bears’ 2026 draft class at No. 57 overall. This became a need after Drew Dalman unexpectedly retired that left a gaping hole in the literal center of the Bears offensive line. A trade of Garrett Bradbury and the selection of Jones now gives the Bears two viable options for the upcoming season. We know that the center position had long been a glaring weakness. Johnson is making sure it isn’t with the past two offseasons spent trying to fix it.
A bit of a shock to some that the Bears would take Stanford product Sam Roush at No. 69 overall. With Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet in the room already it seemed that tight end wasn’t on many people’s radar. However, with teams like the Rams making 13 personnel more common Johnson is taking a page out of the Sean McVay playbook. That didn’t stop the talks of trading from the room intensifying. No doubt that Johnson is gonna have some fun dialing up matchups for all three of his tight ends.
Zavion Thomas became the last third round selection. Another questionable decision because most had him as a day three pick. But Johnson deserves the benefit of the doubt plus speed was a necessary component for the Bears to improve. Thomas ran a 4.28 40-yard dash and because of that his stock did rise. He doesn’t have much production at the wide receiver position but defenses are gonna have to respect that speed if and when he reaches the field.
Malik Muhammad, Keyshaun Elliott and Jordan Van Den Berg rounded out the class providing much needed depth on the defense. Some weren’t happy the Bears neglected the defensive tackle spot until the sixth with Van Den Berg but the class this year didn’t offer a lot of high caliber starters but could provide quality depth. All these players are gonna have a chance to make the 53 man roster come September. After the Bears class last year, it might be best to wait to hold opinions.
Impact
It will be great if Chicago can hit on any of these guys as they are capable starters in spots and quality depth. But don’t expect the Bears to hit it like they did last year with four quality starters in Loveland, Burden, Trapilo and Monangai. That is something you just don’t see from a team given that each draft is so much different and factors change so often in the NFL. However, if the Bears want to remain at the top of the NFL scene competing for Super Bowls they are gonna need to atleast find two to three quality players each draft.
Perhaps the Bears should’ve actively attacked the defensive line, which is one weakness that is in desperate need of some difference makers. However, the money was dried up this offseason and the identity of the Bears appears to run through the offense with Williams and Johnson at the helm. They can use a couple bouncebacks from certain individuals as well.
The Windy City has seen many versions of the Bears. Let’s see if the Bears 2026 draft class can make a lasting impact.
Main Image: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
