The Chicago Bears are in a great position as the 2025 NFL Draft slowly approaches. Armed with the 10th pick in the first round and a freshly rebuilt offensive line, GM Ryan Poles has set himself up to select the best player available when he’s on the clock.
While that may seem like an obvious strategy that all NFL teams should follow, a team’s needs often play a large role in how the first round unfolds.
Had the Bears not taken an aggressive approach in the trade and free-agency market to fix their interior offensive line this offseason, there’s no doubt their best player available in the first round would’ve been an offensive lineman. But now that Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, and Drew Dalman are locked and loaded, Chicago’s best player available likely changed.
See how that works?
Ashton Jeanty may have moved to the top of the Chicago Bears NFL Draft board
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is widely considered a top-5 prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft, but he’s a running back. And the general opinion around the NFL is that running backs don’t carry enough value to be first-round picks, let alone top-10 selections.
But every now and then, a rare prospect emerges who challenges that theory. Bijan Robinson was the last running back to be selected in the top 10; he went eighth overall to the Atlanta Falcons in 2023. The Detroit Lions selected Jahmyr Gibbs just outside the top 10 that same year; he was selected 12th overall. Coach Ben Johnson knows firsthand the value a weapon like Gibbs can bring to an offense.
Jeanty has a chance to have a similar impact, including for a Bears team that will likely move on from D’Andre Swift at the end of the 2025 season. And with a roster that’s as near-complete as Chicago’s, they’re actually a logical landing spot for Jeanty.
Sure, Poles could prefer staying in the trenches and targeting a left tackle to complete his 2025 offseason plan, but there doesn’t seem to be a prospect at that position who’d warrant being picked ahead of Jeanty.
Las Vegas Raiders pose threat to Bears’ hopes for Ashton Jeanty
There’s just one major problem for this whole Ashton Jeanty to the Chicago Bears narrative: The Las Vegas Raiders.
According to Fox Sports’ NFL insider Jordan Schultz, there’s a “contingent of Ashton Jeanty supporters” within the Raiders organization.
Ashton Jeanty is creating a lot of Buzz to the Raiders at 6 👀 pic.twitter.com/8oMVrtNRNj
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) March 13, 2025
The Raiders currently pick four spots ahead of the Bears at No. 6 overall. They’ve long been viewed as a team that could target Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders in the first round, but their recent trade for Geno Smith all but ended that theory.
The one thing working in Chicago’s favor is that the Raiders are far from the kind of complete roster that allows a general manager the luxury of selecting a running back that high.
Las Vegas currently boasts Ramel Keyton and Tre Tucker as two of their starting wide receivers.
If you asked, “Who?” you’re not alone.
There have been recent whispers that Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan could rank high on the Raiders’ wish list, but sixth overall seems a bit rich for his draft value, too.
Perhaps the Raiders themselves aren’t the actual threat to steal Ashton Jeanty; maybe the risk that they’ll trade out of No. 6 to a team like the Dallas Cowboys, who are undoubtedly hot to trot for Jeanty, is the real problem.
Regardless, the Las Vegas Raiders and the sixth overall pick could be the place where the Chicago Bears’ dreams for Ashton Jeanty die.
