Why Kayden McDonald Is A ‘Perfect’ 1st Round Pick For The Bears, According To Former Scout
The Chicago Bears have a ton of data still to collect before they are ready for the 2026 NFL draft. They must sort out their in-house free agents, attend the scouting combine, go to college pro days, and conduct free agency. Only after all of that will they have a good idea of which direction they’ll go in the 1st round on April 23rd. As things stand, it feels like a three-horse race between three positions: left tackle, defensive tackle, and edge rusher. There is no way to know what general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson are thinking. Former Bears scout Greg Gabriel knows one thing for sure. If Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald is on the board at #25, they better take him.
Gabriel spent 30 years in the NFL, primarily with the Bears and New York Giants. He was in the scouting department when the team last reached the Super Bowl in 2006. That experience has given him strong insights into what to look for when evaluating talent. After digging into McDonald’s tape since the end of the college season, he is convinced the big defensive tackle is everything Dennis Allen’s defense needs.
He is big, strong, impossible to move in the run game, absorbs double teams, and has the quickness and power to squeeze the pocket up the middle.
Kayden McDonald is the type of talent Chicago hasn’t seen in years.
One position that has given the Bears problems in recent years is nose tackle. They haven’t been able to find a long-term solution at that spot, forced to rely on a mixed bag of veteran free agents and underwhelming draft picks. The last time they had a truly dominant nose tackle was Ted Washington. He played a huge part (no pun intended) in transforming the 2001 Bears defense into a dominant unit. Letting him walk in 2003 always felt like a mistake. After Lovie Smith arrived, the importance of that position seemed to decline.
McDonald has that rare mix of size, power, and quickness. You think he’s just a big slab of meat occupying space. Then he shoots a gap or chases a running back down the line for a tackle. Comparisons from experts include D.J. Reader, who’s been a very good nose tackle for ten years, and Vince Wilfork, a likely eventual Hall of Famer. Neither of those possibilities would be bad for the Bears. Either way, their defense would improve almost immediately.
Stopping the run is key to Dennis Allen’s defense.
Chicago was 27th in that category last season. In fact, they’ve struggled to stop the run for years. In the past five seasons, they have ranked 23rd or worse four times. The lone exception was 2023, when they ranked 1st. It probably isn’t a coincidence that Allen’s best defenses often correlated with their ability to stop the run.
| Year | Run defense rank | Total defense rank |
| 2018 | 2nd | 14th |
| 2019 | 4th | 11th |
| 2020 | 4th | 4th |
| 2021 | 4th | 7th |
A big reason for this is that stopping the run often puts the opponent in 2nd or 3rd and long. Those become must-pass situations, allowing Allen to use one of his many creative pressure packages. Don’t forget the Bears were a perfect 5-0 when they gave up fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
One other factor in play here? Andrew Billings is a free agent. He’s also 31 years old. The Bears don’t have anybody on the roster ready to replace him. Perhaps Grady Jarrett might be willing to play the role since he doesn’t really have the juice for three-technique anymore. Still, Kayden McDonald feels like he’d not only be a good player, but fill a key need up front as well.