Can you hear it? That's the sound of the NFL season creeping ever closer. Training camp is just days away, and in just three short weeks, the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers will meet in the Hall of Fame game, the first preseason game of the season.
Chicago Bears fans can hardly contain their excitement for this upcoming season, and for good reason. The organization freed itself from Matt Eberflus and hitched its wagon to rising star Ben Johnson instead. Not only that, serious resources were devoted in the trade market, free agency and the draft towards upgrading the roster. There's also a guy named Caleb Williams just waiting to pop in his second year.
Bears fans are pumped, but oftentimes it's easy to get stuck in the echo chamber of like-minded folks. How do other people around the game view the team?
We're getting some answers to that question now that ESPN is releasing its player rankings lists. The Worldwide Leader polled league executives, coaches and scouts to compile their rankings at 11 different position groups, and from July 7-17, they're rolling out a new top 10 each day. Senior NFL writer Bill Barnwell also ranked every team from 1 to 32 in terms of their skill position groups: wide receivers, running backs and tight ends.
Today we're diving into those rankings to deliver some hard truths. When it comes to the Bears, where did ESPN's poll get it right, and where was it off-base? Was Barnwell fair to the new-look offense? Let's take a look.
Bill Barnwell ranked the Bears' skill position players as the 25th-best group in the league
It's important to note that Barnwell's rankings aren't exactly a reflection of how he expects each team's offense to perform. Here's the disclaimer from the top of his article:
"Now there's an important distinction to make here. These are not rankings of the league's best offenses. These are the best sets of playmakers, where I'm trying to separate the production of running backs, wide receivers and tight ends from the quarterbacks, offensive lines and coaching staffs with which they play. Think about the question this way: If every team had a league-average quarterback, offensive line and playcaller along with average luck in a given season, who would have the NFL's best offense in 2025?"
While most Bears fans would bristle at seeing the Bears all the way down at No. 25 on this list, in this context, it makes sense. The three biggest reasons that most people expect the Bears offense to thrive this year are, in no particular order, Caleb Williams throwing the ball, Ben Johnson calling the plays, and an upgraded offensive line blocking.
When those three things are stripped away, Barnwell's rankings are pretty fair. DJ Moore is a very good NFL receiver, but Barnwell is right that he didn't look like himself last year. Rome Odunze has much to prove in his second season, and beyond that, the Bears could be putting a lot on the plate of two rookies in Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III.
Running back is also a position of concern, as D'Andre Swift underwhelmed last year but may still retain the job thanks to having the unproven Roschon Johnson and rookie Kyle Monangai behind him.
These players have a lot of potential, but they don't yet have the track record to be ranked in the top half of the league. Barnwell did leave the door open for the Bears offense to be much better than this ranking suggests thanks to those other factors mentioned above, so let's not kill him for his take. As of now, he's on the money.
The Bears didn't land a single player in ESPN's top 10 running backs, defensive tackles, edge rushers or safeties
Talk about trying to kill our buzz. In the first four position groups released this week, the Bears have zero representation in the top 10. They don't even have a single player in the honorable mention column, which puts them outside the top 15 at each position.
Is that fair? Let's go through each group, beginning with the running backs. D'Andre Swift was one of two Bears who made the "Others receiving votes" category, and to be honest, even that seems generous. Among qualified backs last year, Swift ranked near the bottom of the league in success rate, yards after contact and explosive play rate.
For those reasons, we wrote about Swift earlier this week as being a potential cut candidate in training camp. Swift put up good numbers for the Eagles before coming to Chicago, but that was behind arguably the league's best offensive line. We saw last year the difference Saquon Barkley made.
If Swift does keep the job, he should put up better numbers than last year by virtue of running behind a much better line and having Ben Johnson designing and calling the plays. Those are external circumstances though, and not a reflection of the reality that in terms of Swift's own ability, he's no better than average. Of the other players in the "Others receiving votes" category, I'd much rather have Kyren Williams, David Montgomery, Brian Robinson Jr. and Kenneth Walker III.
Montez Sweat is the only Bears defensive lineman mentioned by ESPN
The Bears took some notable steps towards fielding a better defensive line this year. Given that the team ranked 27th in rushing yards allowed and 18th in sacks last year, it's a good thing they did. Still, they weren't able to land a top name like Trey Hendrickson, the disgruntled Bengals defensive end who has been a constant target of fan wishcasting.
Montez Sweat received some votes, but the rest of the line was nowhere to be seen. That's harsh but fair. Sweat had a down year last year with only 5.5 sacks, less than half his total from the previous year when he managed to lead both the Commanders and Bears in that category (the only player to ever lead two teams in sacks in the same season). Dayo Odeyingbo is a high-upside signing, but he has only 16.5 sacks in four years.
On the interior, Grady Jarrett should help the Bears stabilize their run defense, and his veteran locker room presence will be just as important as what he does on the field. His signing was a smart one from a team culture perspective, but after a decade in the league, nobody is going to argue right now that he's a top-10 tackle. Gervon Dexter could get there some day, but he's still just scratching the surface of his potential.
When Jaquan Brisker is healthy, he's a top-10 safety
I hate not seeing Jaquan Brisker make the list of top safeties, but I get it — he just hasn't been able to stay on the field enough. Brisker has suffered multiple concussions in his three pro seasons, and the one that afflicted him last year limited him to just five games.
Kevin Byard and Jonathan Owens did a good job of holding down the fort in Brisker's absence, but it's worth noting that the Bears were 3-2 when he was on the field and 2-10 when he wasn't. This is a contract year for him, so not only does he need to produce under new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen in order to get paid, he needs to prove that he can stay healthy.
If he does, expect him to crack the top 10 next year. The most important ability is availability though, so we can't complain about him being left off this time.