LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Upon learning what it would cost to acquire five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby last month, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles was OK sitting out those sweepstakes. Improving a Bears pass rush that ranked 22nd in sacks (35) and 29th in pressure percentage (28%) was discussed publicly as a top priority, but only at a certain price.
Sending two first-round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders, which the Baltimore Ravens did before backing out of the trade on March 10, was a nonstarter for the Bears. Poles and coach Ben Johnson were optimistic the Bears would find a path towards improving the team's weak link that wouldn't be so costly.
Armed with a late first-rounder in the NFL draft, the Bears could have reshaped the outlook of their defense and the franchise's priorities with one move. In the last 14 years, Chicago had drafted a first-round edge rusher only twice: Shea McClellin in 2012 and Leonard Floyd in 2018.
Best of NFL Nation
• Stowers' connection to past Eagle Matthews • UFL Week 5 Power Rankings • Why Raiders' draft invested in secondary • Revealing Prospect X and his draft journey • Vikes' draft fallout: picks to Greenard trade
But instead of using the No. 25 pick to improve their pass rush, the Bears found it more beneficial to address the back end of their defense by drafting Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman, a Day 1 starter opposite newcomer Coby Bryant.
"If you help the secondary, you know, they're related to a degree," Poles said after drafting Thieneman. "Obviously the D-line helps the back end more often than not. But in this situation where, we have good corners, good safeties, we can be in a position where maybe we can have the quarterback hold the ball a little longer."
By the time the draft was over, only one of Chicago's seven draft picks was used on the defensive line, and not until the team's final pick when Georgia Tech defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg was selected 213th overall.
"We're certainly going to coach better than what we did a year ago," Johnson said. "It starts there. We've made a concerted effort with how we're going to get that done. We were excited about the guys that ended up finishing the season on IR, the trajectory that they were on, both Dayo [Odeyingbo] and Shemar [Turner]. When you look at it from the start of the season to the point where they both got injured, we saw growth and we saw them trending the right direction in terms of what we want to see on game day.