NFL Mock Draft: Bears 3-round 2025 projections after landing Ben Johnson

The longer things went on, it seemed like there was more doubt that the Chicago Bears were actually the favorites to hire Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as their next head coach. It turns out, that was all just noise. On Monday afternoon, the Bears got their guy as Johnson will now be the man to coach Caleb Williams and this team for the foreseeable future.

Johnson has been one of the hottest names in the NFL coaching carousel for the past two offseasons and for good reason. He's been a mastermind behind Detroit's success and pairing him with a prospect like Williams that was billed as generational should have fans in Chicago salivating. At the same time, though, Johnson and every fan knows that there's still quite a bit of work to do.

The Bears are in a great position with a Top 10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, two second-round picks and a ton of cap space to spend. While free agency will likely determine a lot of what the Bears will do in the draft, we can take a look at Johnson's hire and dive into what Chicago could do when it comes to drafting their next crop of talent, which we'll do in this new NFL mock draft that projects the first three rounds of selections for the Bears.

Round 1, Pick 10: OT Will Campbell (LSU)

In all honesty, the Ben Johnson hire only makes it more likely that that the Bears invest heavily in the offensive line, starting with their first-round pick in this mock draft. When you look at the identity of the Lions, it starts with drafting the likes of Penei Sewell and building the offense from the trenches out. While Chicago might have some of the "out" pieces already in place, they need that line upgrade in the worst way after what we saw this past season.

That's why they wouldn't dare pass on Will Campbell if he falls to them with the 10th overall pick. While some scouts have wondered if the LSU product might be better built to be a guard at the NFL level, the Bears can still utilize him but he's more than worthwhile as a tackle prospect. He's a tail-kicker with a mean streak who also moves extremely well and smoothly at 6-foot-6, 323 pounds and with room to grow after just turning 21 years old.

If Campbell is gone off the board, it'd be hard to turn down the likes of Kelvin Banks Jr. or Josh Simmons either. But in any case, I think the Johnson hire fully affirms that the 10th pick will be an offensive tackle among the elites in this 2025 draft class.

Round 2, Pick 39 (via CAR): EDGE Princely Umanmielen (Ole Miss)

Chicago has the luxury of picking twice in the Top 41 selections thanks to the Panthers trade, which they start by getting some more juice off the edge. The Montez Sweat trade and subsequent extension set the groundwork and gave the Bears defense a cornerstone but it became clear throughout the season that piecing things together with the likes of Demarcus Walker won't work.

Enter Princely Umanmielen, who transferred to Ole Miss from Florida for the 2024 season. That turned out to be a tremendous move as the Rebels deployed him more wisely and gave the edge rusher his breakout season with 11 sacks and 28 hurries on the year in just 474 snaps. What really makes Umanmielen stand out is that, while he can also be an effective pass rusher immediately, he offers more against the run than just a pin-your-ears-back type player on the edge.

Deploying Sweat and Umanmielen off the edge in 2025 and beyond would be a huge boon for the Bears defense moving forward.

Round 2, Pick 41: RB Kaleb Johnson (Iowa)

Amid all of the loading up on skill position players to put around Williams in Chicago last offseason, one such move was paying D'Andre Swift in free agency. That turned out to be a wholly misguided use of their resources and it looks now as if the Bears could absolutely use a more reliable and more importantly dangerous presence out of the backfield. Kaleb Williams emerged as just that this past season at Iowa.

Johnson was a flat-out monster that truly kept the Hawkeyes afloat more often than you might think in a true breakout year. He finished the season with 1,535 yards and 21 touchdowns on just 240 attempts. Moreover, he's versatile in how he can be successful, displaying power, explosiveness and an elite ability to make guys miss and then take off, logging an absurd 1,060 yards after contact in 2024 with the Hawkeyes.

Getting Johnson into the fray behind an improved offensive line makes all the sense in the world for this Bears offense.

Round 3, Pick 72: OL Charles Grant (William & Mary)

Double-dipping in the offensive line room like Ryan Poles, frankly, should've done after taking Williams at No. 1 last year, it's hard not to love Charles Grant in this spot. Yes, he comes from a small school, but that's largely why he comes in as a third-round pick instead of a Top 50 guy.

While Grant does need to improve his body, he dominated the FCS level the way you'd want a pro prospect to. He needs to get more weight in the lower-half of his frame to hold up but he has the body composition to be able to do that while still maintaining freakish athleticism for a guy who's already 6-foot-4, 300 pounds.

The one drawback might be the fact that Grant has only played tackle but I think that's a good problem for the Bears to have to figure out. Get talented players on the offensive line and shuffle things around to find the best five to protect Williams and, as mentioned, run Johnson's offense.