New Report Confirms Ben Johnson Changed Bears' Draft Approach

GM Ryan Poles retained personnel control when the Chicago Bears elected to revamp their power structure. It is how the organization has always operated, so the McCaskey family was unlikely to change it unless they opted to find a new general manager. Still, something felt different when the Bears entered the 2025 offseason with new head coach Ben Johnson. Nowhere was that seen more than in the draft. For the first time, it seemed as if the team was taking calculated risks on players with semi-questionable concerns.

Colston Loveland was recovering from shoulder surgery. Luther Burden had numerous rumors about his work ethic in practice. Luke Newman was considered undraftable because of his size and perceived lack of power. All three players were major standouts in the preseason and have excelled throughout training camp. Some wondered if Johnson was the one who pushed Poles to step outside his comfort zone and take some calculated risks on guys. The GM all but confirmed this was the case during an interview with Sean Hammond of the Chicago Tribune.

And we got with the staff, we got with Ben, to go through position by position of what’s ideal, what’s the prototype for what we want to do. Knowing that some of this, there’s a little bit of transition from where we were, what we were doing, to now. So that conversation was probably the most impactful up front.

Then the other thing is just, as we were studying the center position, that’s a pressure point of an offensive line. And with a young quarterback, you want to put as much as possible on the center to let the quarterback play as fast as possible. So just going through our process when we acquired Drew (Dalman), making sure he was capable of doing those things.

Ben Johnson was said to have a sharp eye for talent in Detroit.

He was the primary driving force behind drafting Pro Bowl tight end Sam LaPorta. He also had a hand in acquiring Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs as well. Most people believed Ben Johnson wouldn't have come to Chicago unless he was guaranteed a strong voice in the personnel selection process. Poles, to his credit, has always been amenable to such things. He gave Matt Eberflus plenty of say in those decisions, too. This fact may have hurt the Bears before, but now it could work to their advantage. If Johnson is as sharp-eyed as they say, he might already be changing their fortunes for the better in the draft moving forward. That is a big deal for their championship aspirations.