Bears pick Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman with 1st round draft pick

The Chicago Bears selected Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman with the 25th overall pick in the 1st round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night.

With their lowest 1st round selection in more than a decade, the Bears addressed a defensive position of need.

Thineman had 306 tackles, eight interceptions, 11 pass break-ups, and two sacks in 39 college games with Purdue and Oregon He'll likely be a Week 1 starter alongside recently acquired free agent Coby Bryant after last year's starting safeties both left in free agency.

After playing two seasons at Purdue, where he was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2023, he transferred to Oregon for 2025. He earned second-team All-American honors with 96 tackles, a sack, and a pair of interceptions with the Ducks.

General manager Ryan Poles said at the NFL Combine that the Bears needed to improve their defensive speed, and they drafted one of best 40-yard dash performers from the combine. Thieneman ran the 40-yard dash in 4.35 seconds, the 11th fastest time for any position, and faster than some of the NFL's best receivers. A dynamic playmaker who can play either safety position, he should fit right in to Dennis Allen's defense.

The athletic safety will bring size and speed to the Bears' secondary. Bears director of college scouting Breck Ackley also emphasized his versatility to play either safety position or corner, something Thieneman said he did a lot at Oregon.

"In an Oregon defense, you're asked to do everything. So, I mean, I'm rolling down in the box, I'm rotating different Cover 3's, I'm playing the half, I'm playing quarters. So I got really comfortable playing a lot of different coverages and different positions," he said.

Thieneman said he also practiced at nickel cornerback in the offseason, so he feels comfortable playing anywhere in the secondary.

It's the first time the Bears have taken a defensive player in the 1st round since picking linebacker Roquan Smith at 8th overall in 2018. The Bears haven't drafted a safety in the 1st round since 1990 when they took Marc Carrier with the 6th overall pick out of USC.

The Bears have six more picks remaining, including two 2nd round picks, one in the 3rd round, one in the 4th round, and two in the 7th.

Assistant general manager Jeff King said earlier this week that the Bears want to "create competition for the roster" and make the staff face some hard decisions at the end of training camp.

The Bears have some clear areas of need, especially on defense, with glaring holes at defensive end, defensive tackle, and cornerback. But King emphasized their approach to the draft will be to take the best player available and maybe the best person as well, throughout the draft.

"The goal by the end of the weekend is to add talent, competition, bring the right football players and the right character into the building," he said.

The best player available mantra that served the Bears very well last year especially, with their top two picks of tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden. Loveland finished the season as the team's leading receiver, becoming the first rookie to lead the Bears in receiving yards since wide receiver Willie Gault in 1983 and the first rookie tight end to do so since Mike Ditka in 1961.

Despite limited usage in the first half of the season, when he didn't crack a 30% snap share in the first seven games, Burden finished the year with 652 receiving yards, and two 100-yard games thanks to an expanded role on offense in the second half of the season.

Running back Kyle Monangai, a 7th round pick last year, also played a pivotal role on offense, totaling 783 rushing yards and five touchdowns in the regular season and playoffs. The Bears finished the season as the only team in the Super Bowl era to have three rookies with at least 650 yards from scrimmage, with 947 for Monangai, 711 for Loveland, and 689 for Burden.

The Bears are likely hoping to have a similar impact on the defense with this year's draft.

"That was a tremendous draft, first of all, and a tremendous draft for their offense. They need the defensive version of that," Finley said.

Here are the Bears' remaining picks:

• 2nd Round (#57 overall)
• 2nd Round (#60 overall) from Buffalo Bills in the DJ Moore trade
• 3rd Round (#89 overall)
• 4th Round (#129 overall) from L.A. Rams
• 7th Round (#239 overall) from Philadelphia Eagles via Browns
• 7th Round (#241 overall)