The Bears used April’s draft to make a clear statement about what they wanted on defense: younger, faster, more athletic. Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman fits that mission perfectly, and Chicago didn’t wait long to make him part of the plan, grabbing him in the first round after a division rival passed on him.
That selection immediately put Thieneman in the spotlight. He’s projected to open as a starter, and the early word out of offseason work is that he absorbed everything quickly enough to make training camp more of a checkpoint than a competition for his role.
That kind of runway is exactly why Alex Kay of Bleacher Report sees a path for Thieneman to make noise in the Defensive Rookie of the Year race. Using FanDuel Sportsbook’s latest odds, Kay listed him as a dark horse at +2700, or 27/1, tied with Malachi Lawrence for the 10th-best odds among the contenders.
"Thieneman has real potential to make a run at the Defensive Rookie of the Year award", Kay wrote. "At 27-1, he is tied with Malachi Lawrence-the Dallas Cowboys edge-rusher taken two picks ahead of him-for the 10th-best odds in this race."
Kay didn’t stop there. He pointed to the kind of role Thieneman could inherit right away, noting that a fast start could push him up the board quickly.
"While he's not a front-runner for the honor, Thieneman could vault to the top of the favorites list with a fast start to his NFL career. The safety is the fast, athletic playmaker the Chicago secondary has sorely lacked, opening the door for him to start all 17 games and rarely, if ever, come off the field."
The appeal is pretty easy to see. Thieneman’s versatility should keep him on the field, and his college résumé - both as a ballhawk and a productive tackler - gives him a profile that can translate early.
Kay also suggested that anyone interested in betting on the award, where legal, might want to act now.
The bigger picture for Chicago is even more striking. Only three Bears have ever won AP Defensive Rookie of the Year since the award began in 1967, and the franchise’s last AP award winner of any kind came in 2005, when Urlacher won Defensive Player of the Year.
If the Bears are going to snap that drought this season, Thieneman is already near the front of the line.
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