Todd McShay sees Ben Johnson’s fingerprints on Bears’ 2025 NFL Draft class
The lead-up to the NFL draft is filled with mock drafts and predictions of which players your favorite team will take. Once it’s over, it’s filled with how well your team did or didn’t do.
According to NFL draft analyst Todd McShay, the Chicago Bears did great.
“Ben Johnson’s fingerprints were all over this thing,” he said last week on The Ringer’s “The McShay Show.” “They chose Colston Loveland over Tyler Warren (in the first round).”
McShay explained why Loveland, a tight end out of Michigan, fits first-year Bears coach Ben Johnson’s offense.
“Kick him out wide. Move him around,” McShay said of Loveland. “(He’s the) best separator in terms of route running and ability to get open with his feet. Doesn’t need his body as much as a lot of these big tight ends to get late separation.”
[MORE: How Jim Harbaugh made impression on Colston Loveland, small Idaho town]
McShay continued to rave about Luther Burden III, a Bears second-round pick out of Missouri, comparing the young wide receiver to a current NFL star.
“He’s got that Deebo Samuel-type ability,” McShay said. “Not the best downfield route runner with the ball in his hands. He’s one of the special athletes in this class.”
With the 56th overall pick, the Bears drafted offensive lineman Ozzy Trapilo from Boston College. McShay believes Trapillo eventually will move inside to guard, but in the near future, he fits best as a right tackle.
Later in the second round, at No. 62 overall, the Bears took Texas A&M defensive tackle Shemar Turner. McShay’s co-host, Stephen Muench, believes the Bears filled a hole with a quality player.
“Shemar Turner can play, man,” Muench said. “He’s going to help them out, and it was maybe their most pressing need. … I thought it was a great pick.”
[MORE: NFL executives praise Chicago Bears for ‘upgraded’ roster after draft]
Another player that might have flown under the radar – but was a quality pick – was fifth-round selection Zah Frazier, a cornerback out of Texas-San Antonio.
“I’ll tell you, another player that I really liked is Zah Frazier, the (UTSA) corner,” Muench said. “I mean, how many 6-3 corners that run 4.36 (seconds in the 40-yard dash) are there in the world?”
The only pick McShay and Muench had concerns about was fourth-rounder Ruben Hyppolite II, saying it was a little bit of a reach for the Bears to take the Maryland linebacker where they did.
Overall, though, McShay and Muench were very pleased by Chicago’s eight-player draft haul


