Bears should count on Coby Bryant to carry them at safety rather than sink major draft capital into position
It’s easy to look at the Bears’ depth chart, see an obvious opening at safety and slot them in to take one Thursday with their No. 25 overall pick in the NFL Draft. That spot also is usually a pretty good place to pick a safety, since the third- or fourth-best in the class likely still would be available.
General manager Ryan Poles can’t do that, however, after shelling out for former Sea-hawks safety Coby Bryant in free agency to the tune of $40 million over three years. The Bears simply have too many needs elsewhere — most notably at left tackle, defensive end and defensive tackle — to make an additional major investment at safety in the first or second round.
Bryant’s contract came with the message, overt or not, that it will be on him to carry the position.
“I wouldn’t say I feel any pressure,” Bryant, 27, said Monday as the Bears began their offseason training program. “It’s a blessing to have that role.”
He most likely will be asked to figure out the back end of the defense while playing alongside (a) a mid-round draft pick, (b) a player attempting to go from backup to starter or (c) a player cut from another team for salary-cap reasons.
A first-round talent such as Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman or Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren is almost certainly out of the question, but safety is more of a possibility in the second round Friday at No. 57 or 60, where Arizona’s Treydan Stukes or LSU’s A.J. Hauley could still be around. Even at that point, however, the previously mentioned -positions — and even center or cornerback — should take priority over safety.
The third round is where teams truly start weighing overall talent regardless of their needs, making safety a solid consideration for the Bears at No. 89. They also have a fourth-round pick (No. 129) and two in the seventh round (Nos. 239 and 241).
The most realistic safety targets at the top of their list are South Carolina’s Jalon Kilgore, Penn State’s Zakee Wheatley, TCU’s Bud Clark and Arizona’s Genesis Smith.
Meanwhile, the options the Bears already have to play alongside Bryant are thin on experience. They signed former Bills defensive back Cam Lewis last month because of his versatility, not exclusively to play safety. Lewis has just 14 career starts, played only 38% of the Bills’ snaps last season and was available for a budget-friendly two years and $6 million. After that, it’s 2022 seventh-round pick Elijah Hicks (15 career starts) or recent signee Gervarrius Owens (no starts).
Limited experience is a more serious problem for the Bears at premium positions such as defensive end, where they can’t simply stick anyone opposite Montez Sweat and hope for the best. With Bryant at safety, they can — and it would be excessive (and detrimental elsewhere) to pay him and also use a high draft pick.
Although this is Bryant’s first big contract, the weight of responsibility is nothing new to him. He came into the NFL as a fourth-rounder in 2022. Learning under three-time Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs, he grew into a star of the defense that powered the Sea-hawks to a Super Bowl title in February, mentoring rookie Nick Emmanwori along the way.
He’ll have to be a leader again in 2026 as the Bears reset the position after letting Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker leave in free agency. In Bryant, they see a player who can produce like Byard while offering more of a future because he’s five years younger.
Whether it’s a draft pick playing beside him or someone who has mostly been a backup, such as Hicks or Lewis, Bryant will have to help get that player up to speed at the same time he’s getting acclimated himself.
“I embrace it,” he said. “I’m that type of guy.”
That’s good, because all eyes will be on him, even more than when he was in Seattle. The Seahawks’ defense was full of stars. The Bears’ defense needs some to emerge.