The draft grades are in — for 2020
- Mark Potash
- Apr 26, 2025
- 3 min read
A year after the Bears got all As for drafting Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze in the first round, general manager Ryan Poles is getting a little more varied grades for his 2025 draft — Bleacher Report (A), PFF (B+), si.com (B-), New York Post (C+)
Who knows how it will turn out. The keys to any draft for the Bears for the foreseeable future are head coach Ben Johnson and Williams. If they hit, what might have been bad picks for Ryan Pace will become good picks — maybe even great picks — for Ryan Poles. If Johnson is as good running the Bears' offense as he was with the Lions, Tyler Warren/Colston Loveland shouldn't be much of a debate. The better player is whoever in Johnson's offense. In theory, anyway.
So it's particularly unwise to grade this draft for the Bears because there are too many unknowns — not just players who have never played in the NFL, but Johnson as coach of the Bears and Williams as the quarterback in Johnson's offense.
If there's a Bears draft that can be graded, it's the 2020 draft. It's been five seasons since GM Ryan Pace took Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet with their first pick (No. 43 overall in the second round) and Utah cornerback Jaylon Johnson with their second pick (No. 50).
It's a difficult draft to grade even five years later because Kmet and Johnson were the only picks Pace had in the top 150 — a result of trading his first- and third-round picks to the Raiders as part of the Khalil Mack trade. In fact, a look back at Pace's final three drafts reveals part of his undoing. The Bears had just two picks in the top 150 for three consecutive years — 2019 (running back David Montgomery at No. 73, wide receiver Riley Ridley at No. 126); 2020 (Kmet and Johnson); and 2021 (quarterback Justin Fields at No. 11, Offensive lineman Teven Jenkins at No. 39). And no picks in the top 10.
In his first four drafts through Saturday, Poles already has 19 picks in the top 150, including four in the top 10. The jury is out on every move he's made so far, but on paper — and the eye test — you can see he is set up to have a better chance for success.
GRADING THE BEARS’ 2020 DRAFT
2-43 TE Cole Kmet — B
2-50 CB Jaylon Johnson — A+
5-155 Edge Trevis Gipson — C+
5-163 CB Kindle Vildor — C
5-173 WR Darnell Mooney — A-
7-226 OT Arlington Hambright — D
7-227 G Lachavious Simmons — D
Bears team: B+
With just two picks in the top 150, Pace found three productive starters in Kmet, Johnson and Mooney — with Johnson a two-time Pro Bowl cornerback and second-team All-Pro in 2023. The Bears also acquired Khail Mack for the first- and third-round picks and Gipson and Mack combined for 13 sacks in 2021.
Unfortunately, the Bears haven’t gotten as much as they could have even from a good draft class. Mooney had 81 receptions for 1,055 yards (62.1 per game) and four touchdowns in his second season in 2021, but mysteriously faded in 2022 (40-493, 2 TDs, 41.1 yards per game) and 2023 (31-414, 1 TD, 27.6 yards per game) before regaining his form with the Falcons last year (64-992, 5 TDs, 61.0 yards per game). Hmmm …
Gipson had seven sacks in 2021 with Robert Quinn (18.5) and Mack (6.0 in 7 games) around, but only three after both left in 2022. Not even Mack had staying power. After an impressive opening season with the Bears in 2018 (12.5 sacks, 18 QB hits) and being named a first-team All-Pro, he was still effective, but less impactful in the next three seasons — 8.5, 9.0 and 6.0 sacks as the Bears’ defense faded from the 2018 peak under Vic Fangio. And he missed the final 10 games of the 2021 season with a foot injury he suffered in Week 4 and was traded to the Chargers in 2022 as part of new GM Ryan Poles’ teardown.
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