The Chicago Bears didn’t exactly light up the offseason, but they still made a handful of moves that could pay off in a big way once the 2026 season gets going.
The biggest headlines were easy to spot: the additions of Coby Bryant and Devin Bush on defense, Dillon Thieneman going in the first round, and the trade that sent DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills for a second-round pick. Those were the moves everyone noticed. The quieter ones may end up mattering just as much.
One of the smartest additions came on the coaching staff, where Ben Johnson brought in Eric Studesville to handle the running backs. Johnson had to replace Eric Bieniemy after he took the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator job, and Studesville brings nearly a decade of experience with the Miami Dolphins, mostly working with running backs. Over the last three decades, he has coached seven 1,000-yard rushers, which gives D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai a pretty solid guide in the room.
Chicago also added cornerback Cam Lewis in free agency, and that signing could turn out to be more important than flashy. The Bears lost five defensive backs in free agency, so they needed depth badly. Lewis comes over with plenty of experience from his time with the Buffalo Bills, and with concerns about Kyler Gordon's health, there’s a real path for him to start in 2026 if needed.
The draft brought another under-the-radar move with cornerback Malik Muhammad going in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He was viewed as a steal and could even be a Day 1 starter.
Tyrique Stevenson was benched late in the 2025 season, and that leaves him with real questions heading into 2026 as the possible new CB2. Muhammad should push Stevenson in training camp, and that competition could become one of the more interesting storylines on the roster.
There’s also a chance the Bears found a useful piece in the back end of the running back depth chart with Brown. Roschon Johnson’s future in Chicago has come under question, which leaves the RB3 job open.
Brown got his chance against the Cincinnati Bengals last year when he filled in as Kyle Monangai's backup with Johnson and D'Andre Swift injured, and he made it count with his first NFL touchdown and five carries for 37 yards and the score. He could end up challenging Johnson for that third-string role while also giving Chicago help on offense and special teams.
In Other News...
Ryan Poles Finally Solved A Bears Problem Fans Hated
When Ryan Poles arrived in Chicago in 2022, one of the ugliest parts of the Bears ledger was the dead salary-cap space he inherited from the previous regime. It was the kind of hidden roster tax that makes every move harder, and for a while it hung over everything the front office tried to build. Over the next few seasons, though, Poles steadily chipped away at it, turning one of the leagues biggest cap headaches into something far more manageable.
By 2026, the Bears were no longer carrying the kind of dead-money burden that once limited their options, and that matters because it changes how a team can plan beyond the next offseason. Chicago is now in position to keep extending its young core without having to claw out of another cap hole first, even as the current roster direction continues to evolve under Ben Johnson. The cleanup is not just a bookkeeping win. It gives the Bears room to make real football decisions instead of cap-driven compromises. [Read more 🡒]
Bears Made A Secondary Gamble That Could Decide Everything
The Bears spent the 2026 offseason remaking the back end of their defense, parting with Jaquan Brisker, Kevin Byard, Jonathan Owens, Nahshon Wright and C.J. Gardner-Johnson in a sweeping reset that left the secondary looking very different from the one they carried into last season. In their place, Chicago brought in Coby Bryant and rookie Dillon Thieneman, while also hoping Kyler Gordon can finally stay on the field long enough to give the unit some continuity.
Now the burden falls on Dennis Allen to stitch the group together quickly enough to matter. The good news for Chicago is that Ben Johnsons offense should help keep the defense from being asked to carry too much too soon, but the real question is whether this gamble in the secondary can hold up once the games start counting and the rotation gets tested. [Read more 🡒]