When selecting safety Dillon Thieneman with the 25th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears not only fulfilled a need for their roster at the position, but they also found a player who represents what they want to do on the field and is a good character fit.
Thieneman will join a new-look secondary led by free-agent splash signing Coby Bryant, coming off a Super Bowl championship, giving Chicago a championship caliber leader to pair with their highly-touted rookie who fell to them in the first round of the draft.
After the first round, Bears general manager Ryan Poles spoke glowingly of Thieneman, not only for his fit in Dennis Allen’s defense but for the character traits he has as a football player and where he feels the rookie can thrive. Poles went all the way back to his high school days, touting the former Mr. Football in the state of Indiana, and he believes the character traits resembles what the Bears saw in last year’s first round pick, tight end Colston Loveland.
“It’s off the charts,” Poles said. “We have so many good sources in terms of guys that he’s played with. That’s all the way from Westfield High School, all the way to Oregon. And the feedback that we got was incredible. I think one of our guys — probably (Director of College Scouting) Breck (Ackley) came down and talked to you. I don’t know if he mentioned it. We had talked about this is a similar type person, player, combination to what Colston was. The work ethic, again, that passion for ball was off the charts. We grade on a scale of one to nine. There’s no fives, and there’s no twos, because there’s no fence grades. There’s a lot of sevens and eights when youlook across these guys’ character. Really happy with the type of person we’re bringing in.”
There is certainly not only a style of player that the Bears are looking for to improve their defense, but both personality and football traits they’re looking for as well. Chicago needs to continue to build off the momentum they set last year in winning the NFC North, totaling 11 wins in the regular season, and defeating the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card playoffs before falling one loss short of the NFC Championship Game.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears GM Ryan Poles praises rookie Dillon Thieneman’s character traits
Reporting by Mike Pendleton, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
