Bears mock draft: 3 players who won’t be back in 2025 and rookies who will replace them

Make that eight straight losses for the Chicago Bears, who put together another punchless offensive performance in a 30-12 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night. The offensive line is so bad that it has future of the franchise Caleb Williams looking punch-drunk on the sideline, and while the defense battled for the most part, it wasn't long before the dam eventually broke.

As if it weren't abundantly clear already, it's time for this team to devote its full attention to the 2025 offseason, and most importantly the 2025 NFL Draft. The needs are obvious: Williams needs much, much more protection than he's gotten this season, while the defensive front needs more juice both on the edge and in the middle. But who exactly should Ryan Poles (or whoever's leading the Bears front office come next spring) target? And which current underperformers should those draft picks replace? Let's get into it.

EDGE James Pearce Jr. will replace Dominique Robinson

Hear me out here, Bears fans. Yes, Chicago needs all the help it can get on the offensive line. But this isn't regarded as a particularly strong tackle class, and it's unlikely that guys like Texas' Kelvin Banks and LSU's Will Campbell will still be on the board when the team picks at No. 9 overall.

Rather than reaching, let's instead pivot to another, equally important need, as the Bears haven't gotten nearly enough from their pass rush this season. It feels like the Robinson experiment has finally run its course, no matter how enamored Poles still is with the former fifth-round pick's potential. Pearce would give Chicago an ideal partner opposite Montez Sweat, a complete 4-3 end who's done a bit of everything over a sterling career at Tennessee — and who, at 6-foot-5, 243 pounds, still has some physical upside left to unlock. This pick fills a hole with a premium talent, and now we can finally move on to the moves everyone's been waiting for.

G Tyler Booker will replace Matt Pryor

Nothing about the Bears offensive line has been good enough this season, but Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright at least offer some cause for optimism at tackle moving forward. The interior, on the other hand, is a mess, with Pryor, Teven Jenkins, Coleman Shelton and Doug Kramer all set to hit free agency.

So let's swap in arguably the best guard in the entire draft in Booker, a multi-year starter for Alabama who has an NFL frame (6-foot-5, 350) and should be ready to step in as a Day 1 starter. Blocking for Jalen Milroe isn't always easy, which should prepare him for life with a similar improvisor in Williams. This is as safe as safe can get, and should immediately help stabilize things in the middle of Chicago's line. But why stop at just one interior lineman when you can have two?

C Jonah Monheim will replace Coleman Shelton

If you're looking to make Williams more comfortable, why not just go draft his old center? Monheim spent the 2023 season snapping for Williams at USC, and he also happens to be among the best center prospects in this draft. Shelton hasn't been awful this season, but he hasn't been good enough to be a part of the Bears' plans moving forward; finding an athletic, reliable pivot for Williams will hopefully go a long way to helping Chicago put a better infrastructure around its franchise quarterback.

There are several directions you could go here, and it's understandable if you'd like Chicago to come away with a left or right tackle from next year's draft. But building around Booker, Monheim, Jones and Wright, maybe while re-signing Jenkins in free agency, would put Chicago in far better shape than it is right now, and hopefully help Williams slow down and read the field a bit better.