NFL national writer ranks Chicago Bears draft class among the league’s best

With the NFL draft officially coming to a close on Saturday, the Chicago Bears front office has been graded by various outlets for their showing this year. The franchise entered the draft with a few needs to take care prior to camp this summer and while the front office might not have been able to address those as much as they wanted to, they still came out of the draft with some strong talent.

A theme of this draft for Chicago was trading down as soon as day two got underway. They traded down a handful of times across the final two days of the draft and were able to recoup some assets back that they lost in the trade market when acquiring offensive linemen back in March.

Despite the board not totally shaking out the way that the organization was hoping that it would, they still came away with some really good pieces in this draft class. Plenty of the outlets that have already graded the Bears draft as a strong one, and the NFL’s national writer for The Athletic further backed that idea.

National writer gives the Chicago Bears a high draft grade

Dane Brugler of The Athletic thought very highly of what the Bears pulled of in the draft this past weekend compared to the rest of their division and the entire league. Brugler gave Chicago the seventh-best draft in the entire league, which ranks 13 spots higher on his list than the next best class in the NFC. He had Green Bay at 20, Detroit at 21 and Minnesota slotted in 32nd with the worst draft class in the league.

The Bears selecting Luther Burden in the second round was a shock at first, but fans quickly got excited about what it means for the offense moving forward. With Chicago having four pass catchers in the offense already following the Colston Loveland pick in the first round, many assumed that a wide receiver was out of the question on Friday. The choice of Burden only further confirms that new head coach Ben Johnson is looking to sculpt his offense both right now and down the road in terms of having the right personnel for Caleb Williams.

The Chicago Bears not taking a running back higher in this draft and missing out on the top end edge rushing talent could be a reason why Brugler doesn’t have their class in the top five. They ended up taking Kyle Monangai out of Rutgers as their running back selection in the seventh round and appear to be rolling with their current edge group into camp this summer.

Colston Loveland is the reason Chicago Bears draft could be great

Loveland quickly soared up big boards days before the draft and Chicago made him the first tight end taken on Thursday. He is already receiving comparisons to Sam LaPorta, which is only fitting seeing as Johnson could view Loveland as the perfect fit for that role in his new scheme in the Windy City.

The former Michigan Wolverine finished the 2024 season with 56 catches for 582 yards and five touchdowns. He is another threat that opposing defenses with have to plan for this season and could be around the Bears organization for a long time. Because of how versatile Loveland is, Cole Kmet’s future in Chicago could be up in the air beyond this season.