Chicago Bears fans are feeling optimistic about their team's future following a strong 2025 NFL draft performance. The Bears left Green Bay with several promising rookie prospects in their possession, highlighted by high-potential names like Michigan tight end Colston Loveland and Missouri wideout Luther Burden.
One position the Bears neglected until late in the draft, though, was the running back room. Hopeful Chicago fans were optimistic that general manager Ryan Poles would land one of the draft's top runners; however, he waited until the seventh round to take Rutgers RB Kyle Monangai with the 233rd overall pick.
Although there's plenty of time for Monangai to carve out a solid NFL career, he doesn't have the same upside as some of his fellow 2025 rookie RBs. Now that the draft is nearly a week in the past, reports have emerged that the ex-Rutgers product wasn't even the Bears' preferred backfield target.
Bears Rookie Kyle Monangai Wasn't Chicago's No. 1 RB Target in Draft
On Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer reported that Monangai was far from the top RB prospect on the Bears' draft list. According to the local reporter, Boise State's Ashton Jeanty (Raiders, Round 1), Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson (Patriots, Round 2), and Arizona State's Cam Skattebo (Giants, Round 4) were all names Chicago ranked higher than the Rutgers RB.
"The Bears, it should be noted, had interest in all three of those backs, each taken in different pockets across the three days of the draft," Wiederer wrote.
The order of each NFL draft is unpredictable before it begins, so it isn't surprising to learn that other teams stole some of the Bears' top targets. Having said that, there were 21 other RBs taken ahead of Monangai, meaning Chicago was fine watching 18 other RBs follow in the aforementioned trio's footsteps before finally addressing the backfield.
The Bears' avoidance of drafting an RB in the earlier rounds likely stems from GM Poles sticking too close to his draft plan.
"To Ryan's credit, he stayed as disciplined as I've ever seen in terms of staying true to how we set (the board) up," head coach Ben Johnson said after the draft. "Sometimes that gets hard. Sometimes you want to pick for need. But we didn’t necessarily do that."
It's going to be interesting to see what the Bears' backfield looks like after the offseason is said and done. In addition to Monangai, Chicago's RB room includes returning names like D'Andre Swift, Travis Homer, Roschon Johnson, and Ian Wheeler. That's without mentioning how former Texas State RB Deion Hankins was signed as an undrafted free agent on Sunday.
It won't be much longer before Bears fans find out if Monangai and Hankins are good enough to make up for the lack of RB selections on Days 1 and 2. The NFL has officially confirmed that Chicago's three-day rookie minicamp will begin on Friday, May 9.