Taking a leap of faith is nothing new for BYU’s Gracie Levelston
Gracie Levelston reflects on her surprising journey to play tennis for BYU.
A hypothetical scenario explores how to conduct the NFL draft for the Chicago Bears using a Consensus Big Board. The exercise emphasizes maximizing pick value while considering positional priorities and player injury risks.
IOWA CITY, IA - NOVEMBER 08: Dillon Thieneman #31 of the Oregon Ducks pursues a play on defense during a college football game against the Iowa Hawkeyes on November 08, 2025 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Let’s play out a little thought exercise.
You are plucked from your couch and asked to conduct the NFL draft for the Chicago Bears. You’ll sit in a room with a landline phone to call in the picks to New York and you won’t be let out until the draft concludes. No cell phones, no internet, no scouts, no meddling front office people. Coach Johnson has handed you a rough list of positional priorities to fill his squad (no doubling up on a position!) and you’re handed a sacred document that shall be your guide through the draft – the Consensus Big Board.
In the margin of this document are a few notes from the medical staff, indicating a particular risk that you should probably stay away from that player – or know full well that other teams will devalue that player because of the injury information that the Consensus Big Board is not able to incorporate. Your goal is to maximize the value of your picks against the Consensus Big Board so that you can score well with the content creators after the draft on points. The rest of the team sits in another room and can make draft pick trades up and down if necessary but can’t tell you about their intentions for that pick.
The score is the most important thing for you, so a big deviation just isn’t possible. Small allowances for team needs and position fit are allowed, as best as you can guess. What does your draft look like?
The Consensus Big Board is a ranked list of draft prospects compiled from various sources, serving as a guide for teams during the NFL draft.
The Bears can maximize their draft picks by selecting players based on the Consensus Big Board while adhering to positional priorities and avoiding high-risk injury players.
Positional priorities for the Bears are determined by their coaching staff and focus on filling specific needs without doubling up on any position.
Teams should consider injury risks and medical evaluations that may affect a player's draft value, as these factors can lead to devaluation by other teams.
Gracie Levelston reflects on her surprising journey to play tennis for BYU.
NFL's media rights negotiations are uncertain as federal scrutiny increases.
UFC legend Chris Weidman set for Hall of Fame induction this July!
Barcelona defeats Real Madrid 2-0 to win La Liga; Yamal surpasses Ronaldo!
UFC 328 recap: Strickland upsets Chimaev, Van wins by TKO
Steelers' Mike McCarthy shares insights on rookie Drew Allar's potential.
See every story in Sports — including breaking news and analysis.
Author’s note: This is not meant to be a criticism of the Bears draft, devotees of the Consensus Big Board, or really anything at all. This is a thought exercise I wanted to see played out so I took a few hours to look at it. Many of you are over the draft. I get it. If that’s you, just click on something different to read.
Pick 25: Dillon Thieneman, Safety, Oregon, #17 on the Big Board
At pick 25, your top-rated player is Jermod McCoy, CB out of Tennessee. Unfortunately for McCoy, you see a red note from your medical team warning you against taking this player. Too risky with the knee. Instead, you take Dillon Thieneman, who is ranked 17th on the Consensus Big Board. Sweet! Coach Johnson indicated that Safety was a particularly important need. Check!
(Note: McCoy lasted until the first pick of the fourth round due to injury concerns.)
Pick 57: Anthony Hill Jr., LB, Texas, #49 on the Big Board
This one was tough. The next guy on the sheet at #25 is Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, a safety out of Toledo, but you just drafted Thieneman. Moving down the list is #41 Emmanuel Pregnon, a massive guard prospect out of Oregon. Guard was pretty far down Coach Johnson’s list. The next guy after that is Anthony Hill Jr., who fits a described need higher on Coach Johnson’s wish list. You turn in the card for Hill Jr.
(Note: Hill was ultimately picked by the Titans at pick 60. McNeil-Warren wound up being picked right after this at 58 and Pregnon went pick 88, one before the Bears next pick.)
Pick 69: Zachariah Branch, WR, Georgia, #64 on the Big Board
It says here on Coach Johnson’s sheet that he’s looking for a speedy wideout and while all of these guys seem fast, Branch is the fastest of the next three available wideouts. Chris Bell had the highest Big Board ranking but there’s a medical note on him and Branch was faster than Chris Brazzell II. It’s going to cost you a few points, but it should make Coach Johnson happy he got his speed WR here.
(Note: Branch got selected the first out of the three mentioned WRs at #79 to the Falcons, but behind three lower ranked receivers in Antonio Williams, Malachi Fields, and Caleb Douglas. Brazzell went 83 to the Panthers and Bell went 94 to the Dolphins. There were additional WRs in this range that went but were lower on the Big Board like Ja’Kobi Lane at 80 to Baltimore, Ted Hurst at 84 to Tampa Bay, and Zavion Thomas to the Bears at 89. A crazy run of Wide Receivers.)
Pick 89: Keith Abney II, CB, Arizona State, #61 on the Big Board
The highest rated player on the Big Board at this point is Keionte Scott, who your notes project at safety. Next is Keith Abney II, a cornerback prospect with “inside/outside” versatility. Bonus – he’s a four-time national champion rollerblader! Some of you with a sharp eye will note that Abney was rated higher on the Big Board than Branch by three slots, but prioritizing the group of WR’s in the last round included Branch. It worked out.
(Note: Abney went in the fifth round to the Lions, Scott went to the Bucs at pick 116 in the fourth.)
Pick 124: Joshua Josephs, EDGE, Tennessee, #77 on the Big Board
Well, well, well, a defensive lineman! Josephs wasn’t the highest rated on the board as Kyle Louis, a LB from Pitt was higher rated but you already grabbed a linebacker. Josephs, if nothing else, quiets the Twitter crowd for five minutes.
(Note: Josephs went off the board at pick 147 to Washington. Kyle Loius was drafted near the end of the 4th round to the Dolphins at pick 137.)
Pick 166: Brian Parker II, OC, Duke, #111 on the Big Board
The highest rated prospect on the board is Garrett Nussmeier, the quarterback out of LSU but there’s really no room on the roster for him. Jalon Kilgore, safety out of South Carolina is next but again, you’ve already got Thieneman. Deion Burks, a Wide Receiver out of Oklahoma is there but you’ve already snagged Branch. Next highest on the big board is Parker, who will fill the center of the future role for the Bears. Coach Johnson said “smart” next to center and, Duke, I guess?
(Note: Parker ultimately went to the Bengals in the 6th round at pick 189. Nussmeier went to the Chiefs way down at pick 249 with a compensatory 7th rounder. Kilgore went on the very next pick at 167 to the Bills and Burks went to the Colts way down with the 254th pick.)
Pick 213: Michael Trigg, TE, Baylor, #118 on the Big Board
Hey, the room traded up here! Something must be really important for them to do that. We know Coach Johnson wants to run more 13 personnel this year so let’s throw him the next highest rated player on the board to end the draft.
(Note: Trigg went undrafted and signed with the Dallas Cowboys.)
Result
We followed some pretty simple rules in this thought exercise and I tried to keep personal judgment out of it as much as possible. The result is…rather interesting because the class is essentially the same positions but obviously different players selected in a different order. Note that of the Bears original class after Thieneman, it’s impossible to know if they would have been taken by another team before the Bears were back on the clock for their pick. For our purposes, I just eliminated them from the board.
The actual vs. Big Board draft class turns out looking like this:
Pick 25: Dillon Thieneman vs. Dillon Thieneman
Pick 57: Logan Jones vs. Anthony Hill Jr.
Pick 69: Sam Roush vs. Zachariah Branch
Pick 89: Zavion Thomas vs. Keith Abney II
Pick 124: Malik Muhammad vs. Joshua Josephs
Pick 166: Keyshaun Elliott vs. Brian Parker II
Pick 213: Jordan van den Berg vs. Michael Trigg
Conclusion
I don’t know if the players from the Big Board draft fit what the Bears are trying to build from a team culture or fit standpoint. There’s obviously a lot more perceived value from the Big Board draft picks, but I personally loved the logan Jones pick in the real draft and feel confident he’ll be the center for a long time in Ben Johnson’s offense. That’s a clear difference between the Bears-specific board loving and seeing a role for a guy like Jones for their team and the scouting community ranking all players for a generic NFL team.
Roush was taken during a run on tight ends, something that a Big Board can’t really anticipate, and by the time the Big Board draft gave us one, it was a player that signed as a UDFA in real life. Then of course, I’ve already seen the actual picks in Navy and Orange over the Rookie Mini Camp and all those guys looked like future Pro Bowlers so now I’m in on the actual draft picks more than anything hypothetical…
Let me know what you think in the comments – you taking the Bears draft or the Big Board draft?