The Chicago Bears are not one player or one rookie away from contending for a Super Bowl, but that doesn’t mean they’re not in a position to make a big splash move. Going into Year 2 of the Caleb Williams era with a head coach who many believed to be the best head coaching candidate to be available in years, the Bears will be expected to win a lot of games in 2025, and they can’t do that if they don’t bring in some serious talent, especially in the trenches.

The offensive line probably needs more attention than the defensive side, but the hope is that Chicago addresses that in free agency, leaving GM Ryan Poles the flexibility he needs in the 2025 NFL Draft to select the best player available regardless of position.

In this 3-round mock draft, that’s exactly what he does, though he has to trade up to make it happen.

Trade details: the Bears send the 10th overall pick and their third-rounder to the Jets to move up to 7th overall, which is consistent with Drafttek’s draft pick value chart.

It’s unlikely that Graham will fall out of the top six picks, but with two quarterback-needy teams drafting at the top, it’s possible. If that’s how the draft shakes out, Poles needs to have a trade ready to bring Graham to Chicago.

While most draft analysts would stop short of calling Graham a generational defensive tackle, he’s about as close to that tier as one can get. Adding him to Chicago’s defensive front would take a ton of pressure off of Montez Sweat to get to the quarterback and make defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s job much easier.

Even if the Bears spend a lot of money on the offensive line in free agency, they’ll still need to spend one of their top picks there to ensure they have the depth they need to make a playoff run. They can’t afford to be one injury away from another year of porous offensive line play.

Jackson played at left guard for most of his career at Ohio State, which is going to be a hole on Chicago’s roster if Teven Jenkins is not brought back, as expected.
He could very easily be a Day 1 starter at that position, depending on who Chicago signs in free agency, and would help anchor the interior of the line.

After shoring up the trenches with the first two picks, Poles now spends his last Day 2 selection on another weapon for the offense. Standing six feet tall and weighing 220 pounds (unofficially), Hampton is a well-built runner with elite strength and explosiveness. His power running would complement D’Andre Swift’s shiftiness well, giving Ben Johnson the thunder-and-lightning running back duo he grew accustomed to in Detroit.

As a bonus, Hampton has also proven to be a solid contributor in the pass game. He hauled in at least 29 passes in each of his last two years at North Carolina for a total of 595 yards and 3 touchdowns and was a reliable pass protector, too.

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