The Chicago Bears addressed their defense with the 25th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, selecting Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman to complete the back end of Dennis Allen's unit.
The last time the Chicago Bears selected a safety in the first round of the NFL Draft was in 1990 when the team picked Mark Carrier from USC.
That drought ended on Thursday night.
With the 25th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Bears selected Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman.
After Thieneman hugged NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, ESPN's Laura Rutledge interviewed the newest member of the Bears' defense, asking him what stands out about his journey to becoming a first-round draft pick.
"Never knew what kind of path I was going to take," Thieneman said. "It started at Purdue and ended at Oregon, but just extremely thankful for everyone that has been with me throughout the way and the journey I have gone on."
Rutledge mentioned that Thieneman grew up idolizing Pittsburgh Steelers great Troy Polamalu and asked the Bears' first-round selection to share the top traits he brings to a defense.
"I think I'm very versatile," Thieneman said. "I'm able to use my speed and play recognition to play fast and play aggressive."
Thieneman spoke to reporters on Thursday night and expanded on how his play recognition became a strength in his game.
“Really, just when I keep improving my process and my preparation, how I watch film and taking notes, writing stuff down," Thieneman told reporters. "I had two separate notebooks. I had a notebook just for opponent scouting, and I had a notebook where I wrote everything down. So I’d write everything in one notebook, and then I’d kind of compile it and what I needed to study and what I needed to know in another so I could study that before the game.”
Thieneman, 21, played two years at Purdue before transferring for his junior season at Oregon. In his three college seasons, the 6-foot, 201-pound safety intercepted eight passes, finished with 11 pass breakups and made 235 total tackles, according to Pro Football Focus.
His versatility should allow defensive coordinator Dennis Allen to deploy him in a multitude of ways. Throughout his college career, Thieneman lined up all over the Boilermakers' and Ducks' defenses.
- Free Safety (1,399 snaps)
- Box (732 snaps)
- Slot (236 snaps)
- Corner (27 snaps)
- DL (21 snaps)
The playmaking safety blew up the NFL Scouting Combine in February. Among all safeties who competed at the combine, he finished first with 18 bench press reps, had the second highest vertical jump (41.00"), fourth-fastest 40-yard dash (4.35) and tied for fourth in the 10-yard split (1.52).
Going into the 2026 season, the Bears wanted to get faster on defense. Thieneman easily checks that box. Allen likes versatility in his players. Another box checked. The Bears had a whole at safety and that has been filled.
Last season, Chicago's defense allowed 60 completions of 20-plus yards (fifth most in the NFL) and 15 passing touchdowns of 20-plus yards (fifth most), according to radar360.
To ensure that problem was fixed, the Bears invested heavily into the safety position. After losing both starting safeties from a season ago in Kevin Byard III and Jaquan Brisker, the Bears used their first-round pick on Thieneman and signed Coby Bryant to a three-year, $40 million contract in free agency.
General manager Ryan Poles had a vision of what he wanted to address with the team's first pick in the NFL Draft, and did so with an athletic, young, versatile safety to complete the back end of Allen's defense.