Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson had fans worried after selecting Iowa center Logan Jones with the 57th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but it’s already looking like a wise move.
The Chicago Bears made three controversial decisions during Day 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft and all three selections happened to be offensive players that were hand-picked by head coach Ben Johnson.
Looking back on it, fans were mainly frustrated because the Bears seemingly “reached” on those three prospects compared to the consensus draft board. However, fans simply need to trust Johnson’s vision.
One of those selections was Iowa center Logan Jones, drafted 57th overall as the first center off the board . It was a long-term need for the team and the Bears felt highly about his fit in Johnson’s offense. That selection also screwed over another team’s draft plans and proved why Johnson was right to “reach” for him.
“There were two centers that we really liked a lot: Logan Jones and Jake Slaughter,” Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said on The Lounge , the team’s official podcast. “We thought both of those guys were really really outstanding players that could really help us, almost immediately.”
Center was a glaring need for the Ravens after losing former first-round pick Tyler Linderbaum in free agency, who went on to become the NFL’s highest-paid center with the Las Vegas Raiders . The problem for Baltimore was that the team felt they could wait until the third-round to address the position and used the 45th overall pick on Missouri edge rusher Zion Young.
“We thought there was a pretty darn good chance that we would have gotten one of those two guys in the third,” DeCosta said. “I was prepared to think about [trading up] from [pick] 80 up a little bit in the third to get one of those guys, if they were there. I never really contemplated both guys getting picked after we picked Zion before the start of the third-round.”
After Young was selected, the Bears drafted Jones 12 picks later as the first center off the board. Slaughter went six picks later to the Los Angeles Chargers with the 63rd overall pick.
“I didn’t really contemplate that, but I think the Bears and the Chargers got good players when they did,” DeCosta added. “It just didn’t work out for us.”
DeCosta also noted that, at times, teams are biased about needs at certain positions which drives prospects to be drafted higher than expected. That’s exactly what happened with Jones and now the Ravens are the ones left without a top option at center.
After the draft, Johnson explained the process that led toward the team selecting Jones where they did and the process makes perfect sense.
"We were really smitten with Logan throughout the process,” Johnson explained. (Offensive Line Coach) Dan Roushar, (Assistant Offensive Line Coach) Kyle DeVan, went out and went to several places this springtime to make sure we could identify the guys that we felt really good about. Obviously, Logan was at the top of the list for us. And so, we felt convicted as a staff, coaching staff and personnel side, that he was our guy.”
The Bears were extremely impressed with Jones’ “top-notch” mental and believes he can handle the high demand that comes with that position in this offense.
If you’re that zeroed in on a certain prospect, there’s never going to be any regret drafting them early. The regret is thinking you can wait and land your ideal option, that’s a lesson the Ravens learned the hard way.
