Ryan Poles sounds off on Bears' duo of Dillon Thieneman, Coby Bryant

The Chicago Bears addressed a big position of need when they selected Dillon Thieneman out of Oregon, giving them a rookie who can come in and start right away as they look to rebuild their safety position. After losing several key members of their safety room, including starters Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard, the Bears are hoping to replace them with free agent signing Coby Bryant and Thieneman as their new-look starters. Coming into the offseason, general manager Ryan Poles and the Bears coaching staff made it clear that they wanted to get more speed, better coverage, and tackling talent on the defensive side of the football.

After the selection of Thieneman, Poles discussed he feels the two new safeties will fit and work together in Chicago's secondary. "I think you match up better," Poles said. "You eliminate, every time, especially our pro staff, when we do an advance on our opponent, we're looking for targets.

We're looking for guys that we can find mismatches on and expose. So, when you have speed and you have a lot of guys that can cover in different spots, your ability to hang in there, cover longer while you're bringing pressure, things like that, enhances the entire defense. " Poles and the Bears coaching staff made it clear this offseason that they wanted to get more speed, better coverage, and tackling talent on the defensive side of the football.

Coming into the 2026 NFL Draft, Thieneman was praised for his clean tackling technique, good coverage skills, and then saw his name rise up draft boards with his 4. 35 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. The coaches knew what they needed to have on their roster, and the front office went and achieved that for the secondary.