Senior Bowl: Can the Bears find a Round 1 starter at tackle? Cornerback? Safety?
MOBILE, Ala. — The most intriguing offensive lineman at the Senior Bowl didn’t play high school football.
Max Iheanachor grew up in Nigeria, where he played soccer until he moved to Los Angeles area at age 13. He played basketball at King Drew Magnet High School, which didn’t offer football.
His AAU coach urged Iheanachor, who now stands 6-5, 325 pounds, to try football. He did, for the first time, at East Los Angeles Community College. He eventually transferred to Arizona State, where he started at tackle the past two years.
“Really, really good athlete,” Senior Bowl executive director Drew Fabianich said. “Really long. Really raw. I see him probably with the most upside of the bunch.”
The Bears might not have time to wait to see how he turns out.
Left tackle in an acute need — one the team seems more likely to fill with a veteran or a more polished draft pick. The latter might not exist at the No. 25 overall pick.
The team could have their choice of one of the draft’s best cornerbacks or safeties, though. Those two positions could have open starting jobs by the April draft, depending on decisions the Bears make in free agency along the way. All three position groups figure to lose starters from 2025, for different reasons.
Ozzy Trapilo, who played both left and right tackle at last year’s Senior Bowl before the Bears drafted him in Round 2, suffered a grisly patellar tendon injury in their playoff win against the Packers. The Bears expect Trapilo to be out until at least late 2026.
In their next game, Bears coach Ben Johnson decided to move Joe Thuney to left tackle, hoping he could provide a better anchor against the pass rush than Theo Benedet, the undrafted Canadian who started eight games this year.
He remains a project, as does Kiran Amegadjie, a third round pick from 2024.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles drafted the Yale lineman while he was recovering from quad surgery. Amegadjie made one start in 2024, a nightmare “Monday Night Football” performance in Minneapolis, and spent 2025 on injured reserve with an elbow injury.
At safety, the Bears are in position to lose both starters — Jaquan Brisker and All-Pro Kevin Byard — to free agency. Backup Jonathan Owens is coming out of contract next month, too.
Poles left little doubt as to which of his two starters he preferred to keep when he was asked last week about both Byard and Brisker. He focused his answer about how interested the Bears are in continuing their relationship with Byard.
That figures to leave at least one starting job open — plus depth opportunities for safeties on rookie contracts. It’s rare for teams to spend extravagantly on both starting safeties.
For USC safety Kamari Ramsey, a projected Day 2 pick, the most critical part of the Senior Bowl was to show control of the defense at the line of scrimmage.
“How do you get people lined up?” Ramsey, who transferred from rival UCLA last year, said Wednesday. “Communication. At safety, you have be in control of the back end. As a safety, you’re the last line of defense.”
The Bears might have to fill a cornerback spot this offseason, too. Nahshon Wright’s journey from a Vikings practice squad player to the Pro Bowl was one of the most uplifting stories in a Bears season full of them. He’ll command at least $12 million per year in free agency, though, and leave the Bears with a choice. One year after extending Kyler Gordon and two years after giving Jaylon Johnson a raise, can the Bears afford to pay three cornerbacks premium money? Do they want to bring back fiery veteran C.J. Gardner-Johnson? Do they trust Tyrique Stevenson, who they pushed to the end of the bench once everyone else got healthy?
If they don’t, their answer might be sitting at No. 25 overall. Even if they do, cornerback might make sense in Round 1 — the Bears have said often that there’s no such thing as too many of them.
San Diego State’s Chris Johnson anchored an Aztecs defense that gave up the sixth-most passing yards in America. The cornerback was ranked the 36th best player in college football last year by ESPN — and could be available at No. 25.
“I’m just trying to stay as calm as possible,” he said after his first Senior Bowl practice this week. “I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life. I’m supposed to be here … all my hard week carried me here, so I’m prepared for all the battles.”
Then there’s that tackle spot. The Bears’ most likely route is to either sign or trade for a starter, then backfill later in the draft.
Gennings Dunker would be a colorful addition. Iowa’s red-headed, mulleted right tackle has made 25 starts at the position. Growing up in tiny Lena, west of Halas Hall and just south of the Wisconsin border, Dunker cheered for the Bears and not the Packers.
He hasn’t been an NFL fan in college, though.
“We watch so much film,” he said, “so I just follow college football.”
For the next few months, Poles and his staff will watch even more film.