Williams was a standout during the offseason program after he took multiple steps forward under Johnson's tutelage last season. While his completion percentage dipped from 62.5 percent as a rookie to 58.1 percent in 2025, Williams' touchdowns (27), touchdown rate (4.8 percent), adjusted yards per attempt (7.3) and yards per completion (11.9) all saw significant boosts. He was also sacked just 24 times after absorbing a league-high 68 sacks as a 2024 rookie. Williams certainly has MVP aspirations headed into his third pro season at just 24 years old.

Monangai impressed out of the gate as a rookie seventh-round pick in 2025, beating out Roschon Johnson for the No. 2 running back role and carving out a steady workload alongside Swift. He finished with 783 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 169 carries while adding 18 catches for 164 yards across 17 regular-season games. Though he lacks Swift's explosiveness and receiving ability, Monangai is a natural runner who fits Ben Johnson's scheme well. He would inherit a valuable workload if Swift were to miss any time in 2026.

Swift offers more explosiveness and pass-catching ability than Monangai, though both backs are expected to play significant roles in coach Ben Johnson's offense behind Chicago's revamped offensive line. Across 16 regular-season appearances in 2025, Swift rushed 223 times for 1,087 yards and a career-high nine touchdowns while adding 34 catches for 299 yards and another score on 48 targets. The 27-year-old is heading into the final year of his contract with the Bears.

Davis went undrafted out of Northwest Missouri State in 2022 and has spent time with the Broncos, Cardinals, Lions, and Browns in his NFL career, though all three of his regular-season appearances have come with Cleveland. The wide receiver and return specialist has also spent time in the UFL. Davis will compete for a role on special teams with the Bears.

Edwards broke his fibula during Chicago's wild-card win versus the Packers in January, but it seems he's basically back to full strength. The veteran projects to start at middle linebacker in 2026 as long as he's healthy.

It's a very promising sign for Odeyingbo, who only appeared in eight regular-season games last season before tearing his Achilles in November. It looks like there's a realistic chance he'll be ready to play a significant role off the edge come Week 1 at Carolina.

"I feel like with the break, it's just like when you tear your ACL, it's never really back to normal," Odunze said. This obviously isn't what fantasy managers want to hear, even if it's mostly just Odunze being overly honest about something that a lot of players deal with after significant injuries. He got off to a hot start in 2025 before the stress fracture torpedoed his season, and while he didn't need offseason surgery, the injury still adds an extra layer of risk to his fantasy profile for 2026 (and beyond?). Odunze seems to be a full participant at spring practices, handling his usual workload while adjusting to the different feeling in his foot. With DJ Moore gone, there's not much doubt about Odunze, Luther Burden and TE Colston Loveland serving as Chicago's top three pass catchers this coming season, in some order.

"Yesterday, he had numerous explosive plays," Johnson continued. "I'm really happy with him." Burden has had one of the biggest hype trains of the offseason after Chicago traded DJ Moore to the Bills back in March. As a rookie last season, Burden averaged 2.69 yards per route run, the highest mark for a first-year player since 2016, and only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba posted better yards-per-route numbers in 2025. With Moore out of the picture, Burden is expected to play in all two-wide sets alongside Rome Odunze this season. In one of the league's more explosive offenses, Burden's arrow is pointing upward in a big way.

This is a concerning development after Gordon managed to play in just three regular-season games last year due to a variety of soft-tissue injuries. At this point of the year, players typically have plenty of time to recover from soft-tissue issues ahead of the campaign, but Gordon's medical history makes his current injury more notable. Still, Gordon has been an effective defender when healthy, so Chicago will hope he can return to full health and remain on the field during the upcoming season.

Johnson was a seventh-round pick by the Packers in the 2023 Draft and has appeared in 21 career regular-season games, logging 29 tackles (20 solo) and four pass breakups, including one interception. He'll compete for a reserve role with Chicago.

While with the Colts last summer, Ahmed suffered a serious ankle injury during training camp when he was brought down with a hip-drop tackle. He missed the entire 2025 season but is now healthy and ready to compete for a job in the Chicago backfield. The 27-year-old has 593 career rushing yards and five touchdowns on 163 carries across 38 regular-season games. He can also play special teams.

Hudson spent the first three years of his collegiate career at USC before transferring to Penn State in 2025. The wide receiver started six games in 2025 and played in all 13, amassing 23 receptions for 288 yards and two touchdowns. The 6-foot-1, 212-pound receiver may have played his way onto the roster in rookie minicamp, but he will have to prove his NFL talent even more as the offseason program goes on to reach training camp.

Miller spent the last two seasons with the Steelers after spending the first four years of his NFL career with the Buccaneers, with a one-season stint with Atlanta sandwiched in between. He didn't see much work in the Steelers' offense, and he finished the 2025 regular season with only nine catches (on 14 targets) for 62 yards across 13 games. Rome Odunze and Luther Burden are the clear top wideouts for the Bears, so Miller will be competing for offensive snaps against Kalif Raymond, Zavion Thomas and Jahdae Walker.

Moss ended his collegiate career at Louisville, but he was the No. 2 quarterback at USC for the 2022 season. Caleb Williams will now be reunited with his former backup as he heads into his third season in the NFL. Moss completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,679 yards, 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions over 12 games for Louisville in 2025. With Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum already on the Bears' quarterback depth chart, Moss' potential likely caps out as a scout-team contributor who synergizes well with Williams as he continues to cement himself as a starter in the league.

Large played three years at Dordt before transferring to Iowa for his remaining three collegiate seasons. The tight end logged eight starts among his 12 appearances in 2025, gathering eight receptions for 52 receiving yards. The 24-year-old has minimal upside as a pass catcher, but he brings a reputation as a superior run blocker. If his physicality holds up against NFL defenders, Large could carve out a depth role on a Bears team that prioritized a physical run game in 2025.

Kelly ended his collegiate career at Michigan State, totaling 47 receptions for 626 yards and two touchdowns through 12 games with the Spartans in 2025. The wide receiver also earned second-team All-Conference USA honors at Middle Tennessee State in 2024 as a punt returner. If his game can translate to the NFL level, his special-teams experience could make him a valuable depth piece for the Bears.

The Bears sent the Bills two seventh-round picks to move up and take van den Berg. A six-year collegiate athlete, van den Berg spent his final two seasons at Georgia Tech, starting 20 of 26 games and producing 67 tackles, 16.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks. He was a late bloomer but managed to earn All-ACC honors in his final season before running a 4.94 40-yard dash at 6-foot-3, 310 pounds at his pro day. There's room for him to grow with that level of athleticism, and the 2025 tape showed a player with the requisite skills to potentially earn a role in the NFL.

Elliott (6-foot-2, 231 pounds) transferred from New Mexico State to Arizona State in 2024, totaling three-and-a-half years as a starter between both teams and 301 tackles in that span. The 22-year-old's aggressiveness, physicality and ability to stop the run are well-established traits, but the same is arguably true for Elliott's limitations against coverage and his average athleticism. As a rookie in Chicago, Elliott figures to have every chance to prove he's capable of taking a step forward in his development while competing for depth snaps with Noah Sewell (Achilles), Jack Sanborn and 2025 fourth-round pick Ruben Hyppolite.

Muhammad (6-feet, 182 pounds) is perhaps on the smaller side for a boundary corner, but the former Texas standout has good reach (32 and 3/8-inch arms) for press purposes and his 4.42-second 40 demonstrates enough recovery speed to buy the idea of Muhammad starting down the road. He might be able to put some heat on Tyrique Stevenson for the second boundary corner role behind Jaylon Johnson as soon as this year.

Though he primarily operated on the boundary as a starter at LSU, Thomas showed his versatility in motions and backfield action, and he also has the experience on special teams as a returner on kickoffs and punts that should help him contribute immediately to the Bears. Thomas' speed and acceleration means he is a threat to make a game-altering play any time he touches the ball, which makes him an intriguing playmaker in the offensive scheme of head coach Ben Johnson. There's a real chance that Thomas beats out Jahdae Walker and Kalif Raymond to earn the Bears' WR3 job behind Rome Odunze and Luther Burden.

Roush (6-foot-6, 267 pounds) is a massive tight end and moves well for his build (4.7-second 40-yard dash, 38.5-inch vertical, 126-inch broad jump), but his short arms (30 and 5/8 inches) were a hindrance and a plausible explanation for his poor pass-catching production at Stanford. Athletic as he is, Roush projects more as a blocker than a receiver at the NFL level, and that's even before you account for the fact that Colston Loveland is obviously the featured pass-catching tight end for Chicago's indefinite future.

Jones is light (6-foot-3, 299 pounds) and even more so has short arms (30 and 3/4 inches), but in literally every other regard the Iowa product is a blue-chip center. Despite his technically smallish build, there's very little concern about Jones translating at the next level. That's in large part due to his rare athleticism — it's a lot easier to deal with short arms when you run a 4.9-second 40 with strong jumps and agility testing. Jones should be at least an average starting NFL center soon or immediately.

Thieneman would have been a justifiable selection somewhere in the top 20, so the Bears jumped at the chance to add the speedy safety with the 25th pick. Thieneman (6-feet, 201 pounds) was outrageously productive as a true freshman and sophomore starter at Purdue (2023-2024), accumulating triple-digit tackles in both seasons and intercepting six passes in the first season. Thieneman almost made it three seasons in a row with triple-digit tackles, but he finished with 'only' 96 tackles in his one season with Oregon (2025). With a 4.35-second 40 and 41-inch vertical, Thieneman showed he's a top-tier athlete in addition to a skilled safety.

Loveland's role expanded significantly down the stretch in his rookie season, as the 2025 first-round pick caught 28 of 48 targets for 378 yards and two touchdowns over Chicago's last four games, two of which came in the playoffs. He suffered a concussion late in the Bears' NFC divisional-round loss to the Rams, but Loveland's comments indicate he has recovered from that injury and is ready to build on his momentum from last season in a Bears offense that traded away wide receiver DJ Moore earlier this offseason. Moore finished second on the team in receiving yards behind Loveland during the 2025 regular season.

Wright will remain on the roster an additional year before further negotiations are required, now set to make almost $6.7 million in 2026 and $19 million in 2027 on the offensive tackle's fifth-year option. The right tackle is coming off a 2025 second-team All-Pro season, and the opportunity to retain the standout 24-year-old's services should help the Bears maintain strong run blocking and pass protection into 2026.