Chicago Bears' 2026 draft class ranks as most athletic in NFL

The Chicago Bears may not have addressed every single need of theirs during the 2026 NFL Draft, but they sure made it a point to clearly identify the type of players they were looking for: Athletes. While the Bears were praised for their draft selection of safety Dillon Thieneman, he was not their best athlete in their draft class in Next Gen State's athleticism score, but he was one of the highest scorers of the bunch, with an 85 score. All of Chicago's first six picks in their draft scored at minimum a RAS score of 76, making them the most athletic class league-wide, showing that the front office wanted to find the best possible athletes at the positions in which they were targeting.

The Bears’ 2026 draft class ranks as the most athletic class league-wide by average NGS athleticism score at 83. Each of Chicago’s first six picks earned an NGS athleticism score of 76 or better. @ChicagoBears | #DaBears pic.

twitter. com/wU46qURizA — Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) April 25, 2026 Despite the multiple impressive high scores from the early picks by the Bears, their sixth round pick, defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg, had the most impressive score of the group. The only defensive lineman that the Bears selected, van den Berg scored a perfect RAS score of 10.

00, which ranked as the second best score since they began keeping track in 1987. Jordan Van den Berg was drafted in round 6 with pick 213 in the 2026 draft class. He scored a 10.