Bears selected Oregon S Dillon Thieneman with the No. 25 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Thieneman (6’0/201) is a highly productive, instinctive and ultra-athletic deep safety who has stacked 235 tackles, 59 stops and 11 total pressures across 2,417 career snaps, averaging nearly 8 tackles per start with consistent downhill production. In coverage, he’s been targeted just 68 times over three seasons, allowing 44 receptions (64.7%) for 494 yards with improved efficiency in 2025 (8.1 Y/R, 62.1% allowed) after giving up chunk plays earlier in his Purdue tenure. Thieneman’s range shows up in his ability to limit explosives late in his career, trimming his yards per reception allowed from 17.2 in 2023 to 8.1 in 2025 while maintaining ball production (2 career INTs, multiple PBUs in key moments). His 9.71 RAS underscores elite straight-line speed (4.35s forty, 99th%) and explosion (41” vertical, 98th%), aligning with the sideline-to-sideline range he flashes while patrolling the deep half. While his tackling consistency (11.5% career miss rate) and average transition quickness can lead to inefficiencies in space, his processing speed and angles help mitigate those limitations. Thieneman projects as a full-service starting free safety, capable of functioning in split-safety shells while offering enough physicality to rotate into the box when needed.