The 2025 offseason hype surrounding the Chicago Bears is predominantly due to the newfound pairing of second year quarterback Caleb Williams and first-year head coach Ben Johnson, who comes to the Windy City after a successful stint as the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions. But on the opposite side of the ball, there is plenty of reason for excitement too under new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
Dennis Allen’s stint as the head coach in New Orleans won’t be an era that Saints fans will tell their grandchildren about, but when given the responsibility of only having to oversee one side of the ball, Allen has proven he can be a well-above average defensive coordinator. When Allen was introduced as Chicago’s new DC, he had this to say about what sort of defensive approach he would be bringing with him to the Bears organization.
“We want to be an attacking, aggressive style of defense,” Allen said during an introductory Zoom press conference. “We want to take the fight to the offense and not let the offense dictate the tempo to us. We’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to challenge everything. We’re going to play the game the right way. We’re going to play a tough, physical brand of football—the brand of football that you come to expect at the Chicago Bears.”
This is a statement that seemingly opens the door for Chicago to take a long look at figuring out how they could potentially land South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori in next month’s NFL Draft. At 6-foot-3, 227 pounds, Emmanwori may end up being more than just your prototypical hybrid linebacker-safety who gets assigned the ‘Star’ label by a defensive coordinator who is looking for his metaphorical ‘Queen on the chess board’… Emmanwori may come to represent the next evolution of the position.
Following one of the most impressive outings in the long history of the NFL Scouting Combine, and Emmanwori rose to fame and subsequently shot up draft boards, presumably because even his biggest supports within draft circles had to do double takes after seeing the eye-popping numbers he put up. But it’s not just the Combine performance that would give teams hope that Emmanwori could excel in the NFL. He was an All-Conference performer in the SEC last season, and consistently flashed the speed, physicality and athletic ability of a future superstar.
Prior to the Combine, most draft analysts considered Emmanwori to be a late 1st Round/early 2nd Round pick, but now it seems possible that he won’t fall out of the top 20 picks. In a 1st Round mock draft earlier this week, A to Z Sports’ Destin Adams mocked Emmanwori to the Chicago Bears with the 10th overall pick.
“Nick Emmanwori models his game after Derwin James, and his elite size and athleticism allow him to do things most guys can only dream of,” Adams writes. “Kevin Byard isn’t getting any younger, and the team is approaching decision time on Jaquan Brisker’s future. Give Dennis Allen a player with Emmanwori’s skill set and watch him work his magic.”
Byard will be 32 once the 2025 season, he showed clear signs of decline in 2024, and he’s under contract in Chicago for just one more season. Brisker also has only one year remaining on his rookie deal. When he’s been on the field, he’s flashed Pro Bowl potential, but the former 2nd Round pick has had three concussions already in his first three NFL seasons, limiting him to just five games during the 2024 season.
A perfect 2025 NFL Draft could net Bears a pair of generational prospects
For Chicago to find themselves in this position, where safety emerged as a greater area of need than offensive line, it required that Ryan Poles would need to turn water into wine during free agency. And even though we won’t get our first sip of that vino until September, it certainly looks like he’s done just that. In trading for Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and signing center Drew Dalman, it’s possible that the Bears offensive line could go from one of the worst in the league to a top 10 unit in just one season.
Now, with four selections in the first 72 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Bears can afford to get more creative than it looked like they’d be able to just three weeks ago, and that likely makes Nick Emmanwori a more realistic option. But even with as much upside as Emmanwori possesses, it’s possible that using the 10th pick on him would be considered a bit of a reach. Plus, there’s a decent enough chance that Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty will still be on the board when the Bears make their pick, and that’s an opportunity they just can’t pass up.
So if Jeanty is the pick — and boy oh boy would that be exciting — the question then becomes, how could Chicago get back into the middle part of the 1st Round to get in on Emmanwori?
This may be the answer:
It’s by no means a sure-thing that Emmanwori will be there at 18. Miami is considered a serious threat to select the South Carolina safety with the 13th overall pick, but assuming the Dolphins go a different direction, and assuming Ryan Poles wanted to get aggressive — which he’s shown on numerous occasions he’s willing to do — he could move back into the 1st Round of the draft to select Emmanwori.
Not only does Chicago get Emmanwori, but they hold onto the 41st overall pick and come away with an edge rusher (Umanmielen) who came into the 2024 season with 1st Round expectations. Theoretically, these two SEC stars could step in and contribute right away for a defense that under Dennis Allen, could be one of the most disruptive units in the NFL.
The post Why South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori is perfect fit for Bears in NFL Draft appeared first on ClutchPoints.
