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The Bears enter what could be a “wild” Thursday night in Green Bay with the 10th overall pick. Follow here for updates from Sun-Times reporters and editors.
Last Updated: April 24, 2025 07:47 PM
By Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser, Gene Farris | April 24, 2025 at 5:57 PM
The 2025 NFL Draft will be held Thursday through Saturday in the parking lots surrounding Lambeau Field in Green Bay. The first round kicked off Thursday with the Tennessee Titans selecting Miami’s Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick. The Bears currently hold the No. 10 overall pick. Follow live updates below.
What you need to know
Raiders are expected to take Ashton Jeanty
Cross Ashton Jeanty off the Bears’ wish list. The Raiders are expected to take the Boise State running back with the sixth pick, teaming him with run-first head coach Pete Carroll and run-first offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.
Browns take Mason Graham, the top defensive tackle
The Browns are taking Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham fifth overall. He was the best defensive lineman available in the draft.
Bears will probably have to adjust O-line plans
Cross the first offensive tackle off the list: the Patriots’ are expected to take Will Campbell fourth. The Bears scouted Campbell and other tackles as potential, eventual replacements for Braxton Jones, who is recovering from ankle surgery but is expected to return by training camp.
The NFL’s newest stars showed off their flair while walking the red carper Thursday night.
The Browns are trading the No. 2 pick to the Jaguars for the No. 5 pick and are expected to take Colorado receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. The Browns will get the Jaguars’ second-rounder, fourth-rounder and next year’s first-rounder. Picking fifth, the Browns will become a wild-card as the Bears wait to see who falls to No. 10 overall.
As expected, Cam Ward goes No. 1 to Titans
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The NFL Draft is open, and the Titans got things started by drafting University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the first pick.
The Titans have been searching for a franchise quarterback for more than two decades, and while Ward is the best at his position in this class, the Bears were fortunate to be searching for a quarterback last year when the draft was loaded with them. They took Caleb Williams, kicking off a run of six quarterbacks in the first 12 picks.
Ward was an All-American at Miami last season and completed 67.2% of his passes, piled up 4,313 yards and threw 39 touchdown passes against seven interceptions.
He began his college career at University of the Incarnate Word, then transferred to Washington State for two seasons before finishing up at Miami.
With Ward off the board, the next quarterback to likely will be Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, though some analysts have suggested he might slip to the second round.
The next three are Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, Louisville’s Tyler Shough and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.
Clay Matthews approves that shot at the Bears
GREEN BAY, Wis. — As the NFL Draft got started, commissioner Roger Goodell came on stage with several former Packers to fire up the crowd.
Clay Matthews did just that. After warning Goodell that he was about to go off script, Matthews claimed he had just spoken with Donald Trump and had a message to deliver.
“My fellow Americans …” Matthews began, “the Bears still suck.”
The crowd, estimated by the NFL at more than 125,000 on the premises of Lambeau Field, roared with approval.
The Bears won the last time they were here, beating the Packers 24-22 in January, but finished 5-12 and will draft 10th. The Packers went 11-6 and made the playoffs and are slotted at No. 23 tonight.
Roger Goodell calls Steve McMichael ‘an extraordinary guy’
Hall of Famer Steve McMichael was “an extraordinary guy,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday, one day after McMichael’s death at age 67.
McMichael, the defensive lineman inducted into the Hall of Fame in August, died four years after being diagnosed with ALS.
“I enjoyed every moment I was with him,” Goodell said in a pre-draft interview with ESPN. “I’m really sorry to his family. We’re all gonna miss him, and I know they are the most. He left his mark on football in general — not just the Bears, but football …
“I’m glad he got to be in the Hall of Fame while he was alive to see that. I know it was an important moment for him, and it should be.”
Ryan Poles’ rebuild nearing its end
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The NFL Draft should be the final step of Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ prolonged rebuild. The team has the No. 10 pick tonight, for now, and has the Nos. 39 and 41 overall picks Friday in the second round.
Poles predicted the first round would get “a little wild” at Lambeau Field, and that makes it tough to predict who will be available for the Bears if they stick with the 10th pick. They might have a shot at All-American left tackle Will Campbell or Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham, or both could go in the top five.
If the Bears want to secure their shot at one of those players, or perhaps Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, they’ll most likely need to trade up.
In addition to the two second-rounders — the No. 39 pick is the final piece of the 2023 trade with the Panthers — the Bears are slotted to pick No. 72 overall in the third. They also have a fifth-rounder and two sevenths Saturday.
They had the Nos. 1 and 9 picks last year and took quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Rome Odunze, respectively. The year before, Poles selected right tackle Darnell Wright 10th overall.
Jeanty expects to be gone before No. 10
If the Bears want to draft Ashton Jeanty, the Boise State running back says the team is going to need to come get him. “I’m gone before that,” Jeanty said in Green Bay of the 10th overall pick. “There’s a high need for running backs … and teams are willing to trade up for a guy like me.”
Jeanty, a rumored target of the Bears with the 10th overall pick for months, now seems likely to go even higher, with the Jaguars at No. 5 and Raiders at No. 6 among teams reportedly interested.
Jeanty said he liked what he heard from Bears coach Ben Johnson and running backs coach Eric Bieniemy in their meetings and mused that he and D’Andre Swift could replicate the ‘‘Sonic and Knuckles’’ backfield Johnson had as the Lions’ offensive coordinator with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.
Can Ryan Poles start to improve his track record tonight?
Despite holding the No. 1 overall pick at one point in two of his three drafts, Poles has posted pedestrian results — at least when it comes to playing time.
Players Poles drafted the last three years have taken 35.1% of the Bears’ snaps, which ranks 19th among NFL teams and third in the NFC North, according to data from Stathead.com.
No offensive player on the Bears’ 53-man roster took part in more plays last year than Caleb Williams, who played 98.9% of the time. Rome Odunze ranked seventh, at 84%. Still, Bears offensive players drafted over the past three years have appeared in 31.6% of the team’s snaps, which ranks third in the NFC North and 24th in the NFL.
Who should the Bears draft tonight?
Just like all the Bears fans in your life, there is no consensus among our beat writers on who the Bears should select in Round 1.
Jason Lieser says that “in a draft the Bears acknowledge is more unpredictable than usual, the best thing they can do is stick to sound logic and address a clear need in the first round.” That need? Offensive line, which means going with Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr., assuming LSU’s Will Campbell and Missouri’s Armand Membou are off the board.
Patrick Finley goes the offensive route with Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, who could team with Cole Kmet to immediately give the Bears one of the most dynamic tight-end groups in the NFL.
