2025 UDFAs

[wab]

Sanborn, Benedet, Wheeler... Kromah and Carl Jones might have a shot at the team this season. Austin Reed might stick after Bagent is gone.

Think Bagent is going to be moved?

No, I just mean when his contract is up.

[thunderspirit]

Could be, but he has landed a couple of good UDFAs recently that stuck and played. Sanborn was one and Bagent another.

I dunno.
Sanborn was one of his, right?
And Benedet is very much a "raw project you hope pays off eventually" not an "experienced and reliable body, but just not athletic enough" type
Wheeler was also the same sort


I vote for "I don't get what he's thinking" as well.

It's obvious he's found some valuable pieces; I'm not suggesting he hasn't.

What I mean is, I can't seem to isolate what criteria he's using to bring guys in. Some teams chase UDFA guys who are athletic but didn’t have top production. Some chase productive college players who fall short athletically. And some teams tend to look at non-power conference guys.

Poles doesn't trend toward any of those, or more accurately seems to want to do all of them at once but with only a few guys, rather than bringing in several at the same position to find a hidden gem.

He's had some success, so maybe I'm just overthinking it. I dunno.

[mmmc_35]

I personally think/feel Poles doesn't view UDFA's as potential roster player. My opinion he seems to view the process as training camp bodies. There maybe some merrit to that thinking. It's just not my way of thinking.

Could be, but he has landed a couple of good UDFAs recently that stuck and played. Sanborn was one and Bagent another.

While true on the outside no one would have picked either as contributing. I liked Sandborn as a Badgers fan. I like bagent also maybe more so as the underdog type.

That said neither player had great traits. That's more the concept I'm expressing.

[Shadow]

Could be, but he has landed a couple of good UDFAs recently that stuck and played. Sanborn was one and Bagent another.

While true on the outside no one would have picked either as contributing. I liked Sandborn as a Badgers fan. I like bagent also maybe more so as the underdog type.

That said neither player had great traits. That's more the concept I'm expressing.

I get it and I am also confused to his selection criteria and methods. But what ever it is , he does manage to find some interesting prospects. UDFAs are all only prospects anyway. Lets call them non draft-able.
Once in a while a player will fall all the way out of the draft for whatever reason. They were draft-able players but had flags or warning signs that made teams not pull the trigger.
Maybe they just have a list of players that they were looking at, and they just didn't hit all the check points the Bears wanted. Then they get put on a separate list for post draft consideration.
I would find the UDFA process and selection almost as interesting to watch, as the Draft process. Hey HBO, got a new show for you! I call it Underdogs! We can get UnderArmor as a sponsor!

[Middleguard]

Bears finally fessed up:
Major Burns DB LSU
Xavier Carlton DL California
Power Echols LB North Carolina
Luke Elkin LS Iowa
Deion Hankins RB Texas State
Tysheem Johnson DB Oregon
Jonathan Kim K Michigan State
JP Richardson WR TCU
Jereme Robinson DL Kansas
Jahdae Walker WR Texas A&M

[dplank]

Draft gurus? Anyone on that list have a roster shot?

[wab]

Draft gurus? Anyone on that list have a roster shot?

I like Walker and Carlton. I though they both were 5th round guys.

[wab]

And Tysheem Johnson has a legit chance to start in a year.

[Arkansasbear]

Draft gurus? Anyone on that list have a roster shot?

Bears finally fessed up:
Major Burns DB LSU - real shot to stick
Luke Elkin LS Iowa - no idea but never know
Tysheem Johnson DB Oregon - real shot
Jonathan Kim K Michigan State - maybe but I say that because I’m always hoping to up from Santos. Hightower is still coaching ST but Johnson might want to move on. If I was betting I say he doesn’t make it but if he has the training camp. /pre-season “of his life” maybe.

[thunderspirit]

Draft gurus? Anyone on that list have a roster shot?

I like Walker and Carlton. I though they both were 5th round guys.
And Tysheem Johnson has a legit chance to start in a year.

I agree about Carlton (more of a late-round flyer type, so the kind of guy I'd expect to be targeted in UDFA) and Johnson.

Carlton isn't likely to ever be more than a depth piece and certainly needs to get stronger to stick around, but he has good size, decent athleticism, was productive in college, and is smart.
Johnson can run and hit, and plays well in zone coverage. He's stiff and undersized so he'll struggle in man coverage. His extensive special teams experience will help him a lot.

I don't have much hope for Major Burns – a box safety who hits like a linebacker but unfortunately has coverage skills like a linebacker too – or Power Echols, who has excellent defensive instincts and was fairly productive but runs slower than Kyle Monongai. If you could give Echols Ruben Hyppolite's speed you'd have a real stud.

[thunderspirit]

Here's the full rookie minicamp roster, incidentally.
https://i.redd.it/z25veyatqmze1.png

[thunderspirit]

Of particular note is several of the DBs they brought in: long arms and big wingspans.

CBs
Bryquice Brown
Jordan Mahoney
Devin Kirkwood and Isaiah Greene are similar.

Ss
Bryan Addison

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Jonathan Kim K Michigan State - maybe but I say that because I’m always hoping to up from Santos.

Can I ask why you're always hoping to move on from the most accurate kicker in franchise history?

Santos has made 89.3% of his field goals for the Bears, comfortably surpassing Robbie Gould's 85.4%.

There are kickers out there with stronger legs, but in the last 3 seasons he's made 19 of 22 FGs from over 50 yards. The only 3 he missed were from 55 yards or more.

He's also, when his line hasn't screwed up, been very reliable at making clutch kicks.

And of course half his games are at Soldier Field, arguably the most difficult stadium in the league for a kicker.

I'll happily take that level of accuracy.

[Moriarty]

Jahdae Walker is your "standard" Texas A&M "great athlete, where's the production?" prospect. Were they the worst coached team in the history of college sports?
He's got decent outlook for 1-2 years down the road (for a UDFA).

Tysheem Johnson and Major Burns prompted 1-2 excited online articles I've seen. I don't think there's any call for excitement. They may be 2 & 3 on the list, but they're still ordinary UDFA longshots.

LS & K are kind of wild card-y.
Kim had a good final (6th) season.
LS ?? Was ranked 6th by Brugler (normally you need to be higher, maybe 3ish to get a job), not in top 5 by one other source who said it was a lackluster class. So...

[thunderspirit]

Regarding A&M specifically: Jimbo Fisher was not a very good coach, but I think Mike Ehlo is terrific, and I expect to see significant improvement in Aggie prospects in the coming years.

[Moriarty]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/ ... ents-bios/

[Arkansasbear]

Jonathan Kim K Michigan State - maybe but I say that because I’m always hoping to up from Santos.

Can I ask why you're always hoping to move on from the most accurate kicker in franchise history?

Santos has made 89.3% of his field goals for the Bears, comfortably surpassing Robbie Gould's 85.4%.

There are kickers out there with stronger legs, but in the last 3 seasons he's made 19 of 22 FGs from over 50 yards. The only 3 he missed were from 55 yards or more.

He's also, when his line hasn't screwed up, been very reliable at making clutch kicks.

And of course half his games are at Soldier Field, arguably the most difficult stadium in the league for a kicker.

I'll happily take that level of accuracy.

He was bad last year (84% of FG made) and his range has always been an issue. He's fine IMO, but his limited range coupled with his performance makes him a guy who can be replaced. I acknowledge we moved on from Gould after a down year and it was not a good move.

To be clear, my word choice "always hoping to move on from" was poor. I think he's a guy we can find someone better but if not he will do.

[dplank]

His game winner against Green Bay tho....I'll always love him for that.

[Arkansasbear]

His game winner against Green Bay tho....I'll always love him for that.

I think that coupled with Hightower being with him the whole time Hightower has been here will work in favor. If Kim is just slightly better I think they stick with Santos (and I agree with that call BTW).

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Can I ask why you're always hoping to move on from the most accurate kicker in franchise history?

Santos has made 89.3% of his field goals for the Bears, comfortably surpassing Robbie Gould's 85.4%.

There are kickers out there with stronger legs, but in the last 3 seasons he's made 19 of 22 FGs from over 50 yards. The only 3 he missed were from 55 yards or more.

He's also, when his line hasn't screwed up, been very reliable at making clutch kicks.

And of course half his games are at Soldier Field, arguably the most difficult stadium in the league for a kicker.

I'll happily take that level of accuracy.

He was bad last year (84% of FG made) and his range has always been an issue. He's fine IMO, but his limited range coupled with his performance makes him a guy who can be replaced. I acknowledge we moved on from Gould after a down year and it was not a good move.

To be clear, my word choice "always hoping to move on from" was poor. I think he's a guy we can find someone better but if not he will do.

He wasn't bad last year. The only reason his FG percentage was down to 84% was because his line screwed up in back-to-back weeks and he had 2 kicks blocked as a result. If it hadn't been for that he'd have made 92%. In fact 3 of his 4 misses were due to blocks.

He made 21 of 25 attempts. The ones he missed:

• 56 yarder against the Colts

• 43 yarder agains the Jaguars (Blocked)

• 46 yarder against the Packers (Blocked)

• 48 yarder against the Vikings (Blocked)

Even with those blocked attempts, since rejoining the Bears in 2020 Santos is the 4th most accurate FG kicker in the NFL. Good luck finding someone better.

[wab]

Yeah, I don't understand the hurry to get rid of Santos.

[Arkansasbear]

He was bad last year (84% of FG made) and his range has always been an issue. He's fine IMO, but his limited range coupled with his performance makes him a guy who can be replaced. I acknowledge we moved on from Gould after a down year and it was not a good move.

To be clear, my word choice "always hoping to move on from" was poor. I think he's a guy we can find someone better but if not he will do.

He wasn't bad last year. The only reason his FG percentage was down to 84% was because his line screwed up in back-to-back weeks and he had 2 kicks blocked as a result. If it hadn't been for that he'd have made 92%. In fact 3 of his 4 misses were due to blocks.

He made 21 of 25 attempts. The ones he missed:

• 56 yarder against the Colts

• 43 yarder agains the Jaguars (Blocked)

• 46 yarder against the Packers (Blocked)

• 48 yarder against the Vikings (Blocked)

Even with those blocked attempts, since rejoining the Bears in 2020 Santos is the 4th most accurate FG kicker in the NFL. Good luck finding someone better.

True, but part of why they were blocked is due to his lack of power/distance that has the ball come out a bit flatter and easier to block.

[Arkansasbear]

Yeah, I don't understand the hurry to get rid of Santos.

I tried to clear that up. I choose my words poorly in my first post. I'm fine if we go with him. He is what is he - accurate but range is an issue with him. We can clearly win with him, but he can be upgraded. Is Kim an upgrade? likely not, he's likely going to the PS to be an insurance policy. I don't want to go with Kim unless he is clearly better by a wide margin. Would actually like to see them have Taylor work on being the "long distance kicker" for when it's needed.

Hope that clears up my stance on him.

[dplank]

I bet Ben Johnson will go for it on 4th vs taking long fg attempts, the risk reward favors going for it and he's got that mentality IMO - this is regardless of having a strong legged kicker IMO, and so I can see why they might prefer a very accurate guy who lacks range