Luther Burden and Colston Loveland are clearly the two second-year players on the Chicago Bears with the highest expectations. Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report chose Burden as the second-year player to watch on the Bears. However, while Shemar Turner might not be the most important player from that class, his 2026 will be the most important to his status on the roster.Â
Shemar Turner enters a massive 2026 season with the Chicago Bears
Turner was drafted in the second round, taken with the 62nd overall pick. However, his rookie year was a massive disappointment. He was only healthy for eight games, but only active for five games. Turner ended up playing just 74 total snaps before an ACL injury ended his year.
Still, had he been healthy for an entire season, there is still a real question as to how much he would have played and progressed during his rookie year.Â
The Bears never got enough of a sample to know exactly what they had. That leaves Turner entering this season with as many questions as almost anyone on the roster, despite being a second-round pick. Now, his year two is vital. He is not getting the hype of Burden and Loveland, but the Bears need him to progress just as much.
The plan this year is to move him to the edge more often. Turner played 39 snaps as an interior rusher and 35 snaps as an edge rusher last year, per PFF. So, he was already being used in a versatile manner. However, this year the team is looking to use him on the edge more often.Â
They are thin at edge rusher, and they did not put in a lot of effort to upgrade the room. That shows just how much confidence they have in their current group. The Bears are counting on internal development rather than outside additions, putting even more pressure on Turner to take a step forward.
Some of it is because things did not go their way. However, they also did not add as much because they expect Dayo Odeyingbo and Turner to be healthy and provide help on the edge.Â
This is asking a lot from Turner, though. He has to come back from injury, adjust to the full-on change, and see his play improve, because last year his ability was not enough before his injury.Â
It is easy to see the trajectory of some other rookies from the draft class, but Turner has serious questions.
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