The Bears bolstered their secondary Thursday night by selecting safety Dillon Thieneman with the 25th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.
The 6-foot, 201-pounder appeared in 39 games over three seasons at Purdue (2023-24) and Oregon (2025), registering 306 tackles, eight interceptions, 14 pass breakups, 10.0 tackles-for-loss, 2.0 sacks and two forced fumbles.
Thieneman appealed to the Bears because he possesses tremendous speed, versatility and football character. He ran a 4.35 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and can play both strong and free safety as well as nickel back.
"Dillon's tape popped out," said general manager Ryan Poles. "Just the sense of urgency that he plays with, the play speed … his ability to close on the football, both in the run and the pass stood out really, really quick. The guy's obsessed with football. He's extremely fast, a great leader, violent in the way that he plays the game; everything that we're looking for."
NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein describes Thieneman as a "savvy three-year starter with NFL size, speed and alignment versatility" who is "an instinctive, rangy safety who can roll down into big nickel or robber positioning."
Bears director of college scouting Breck Ackley believes that Thieneman plays to his timed speed and that his most impressive trait is his range.
"He goes to the combine, he blows it up, he matches what he shows on film," Ackley said. "You get a chance to meet him, talk to him at the combine and he's an 'all football' guy. Everything that you felt when you met him matched what the school said, both Purdue and Oregon. So really it was just one of those deals where he really checked every single box and by the end of the process there were really no questions about him, so obviously it lined up."
Thieneman isn't only fast; he also packs a punch. Poles told reporters that the safety's aggressive play style "flies off the tape."
"He's a violent football player," said the Bears GM. "He strikes. There's a knock-back element to his tackling. There's speed and there's violent speed in terms of just the explosion off the spot, and that's what he brings."
Poles added that Thieneman's football character is "off the charts," a conclusion the Bears reached after interviewing those he interacted with from Westfield High School in Indiana to the University of Oregon.
"The feedback we got was incredible," said Poles, who compared Thieneman to 2025 first-round pick Colston Loveland. "He's a very similar type person/player combination to what Colston was. The work ethic, that passion for ball was off the charts. Really happy with the type of person we're bringing in."
Coach Ben Johnson, who last month said that the defense was seeking "trained killers," evidently feels the same way about Thieneman being drafted by the Bears.
"He was fired up," Poles said. "We've spent time together. He would come in and watch tape with our group. This is one of the guys that we had on when he was in. I can now feel Ben. He doesn't say anything. I can feel his body language start to get excited by somebody. You can feel it. It's that style of play he has that's contagious. It's the type of player that we want on our football team."
The Bears envision Thieneman teaming with free agent acquisition Coby Bryant to form one of the NFL's fastest and most versatile safety tandems.
"You match up better," Poles said. "Every time we do an advance on our opponent, we're looking for guys that we can find mismatches on and expose. When you have speed and you have a lot of guys that can cover in different spots, your ability to hang in there and cover longer while you're bringing pressure enhances integrity."
"When you look at the way you want your defense to play, you want to be able to play with two guys that can both play high and low, both fill the run on both sides," Ackley said. "There's really not a weakness because they can both do everything. It allows DA (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) to be much more multiple. It allows us to put multiple players in the best position because of what those guys can both do."
