Bears Mock Draft Reaction: Why Missouri’s Zion Young Makes Sense in Chicago
The 2026 NFL Draft is still over a month away, but that means there is plenty of time for mock drafts. Here are two separate ones that selected Missouri defensive end Zion Young for the Bears with the No. 25 overall pick.
Video Transcript
We know the Bears haven't addressed the edge rusher position in free agency, but in these latest two mock drafts, that problem becomes addressed.
Let's talk about it right now.
As always, I'm Nicholas Moriano from Roundtable Sports.
Got a chance to read some of the latest mock drafts that came out this week, and one player was the common denominator between two different mock drafts.
You have ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. and NBC's Connor Rogers both selecting Missouri defensive end Zion Young with the 25th overall pick to the Chicago Bears.
Now, this is a guy that I've been doing my homework on ever since, you know, really early in the January, February months as you're kind of projecting and thinking about what players make sense for this Bears defense.
And let's just start with the size of Zion Young, 6'6", 262 pounds.
That's gonna be your prototypical defensive end that Dennis Allen likes to use in his system.
He's got the height and weight to set the edge against the run, but also has plenty of pass rushing ability as well.
When you look at his four years in college, first two at Michigan State, last two with Missouri, he's just gotten better as a player in every major area that you wanna see him perform in.
Let's talk about his run defensive grade.
He finished with an 86.6 in his senior season.
That's the highest of his college career.
But also as a pass rusher, man, the evolution is there.
He went in his senior season at Missouri, and this is according to Pro Football Focus, which, which has a little bit of different metrics than what ESPN likes to use, racked up 57 total quarterback pressures and eight sacks.
That's more than double his production that he had his junior season.
Someone that just constantly got better as he got more opportunities.
And if you get a chance to just watch his game against South Carolina last season in week four, I mean, Zion Young was literally everywhere.
According to PFF, he had nine quarterback pressures.
That was the most he had all season long.
You're gonna see power, violence, relentlessness to get to the ball carrier.
That's what you wanna see in a Bears defensive end, and the Bears just need more of those types of players on their football team.
According to Mel Kiper Jr. when he wrote in his paragraph about the selection, he mentioned that the Bears haven't used a top 50 pick on an edge rusher since Leonard Floyd went ninth in 2016.
That's far too long to not invest in a high draft pick at such a premium position.
We know that's an area for the Bears.
It was an area all season long.
And outside of Montez Sweat, who even himself has been He goes through these waves of, of production, there isn't a reliable piece on the other side.
Austin Booker has definitely shown flashes, and maybe with more opportunities we'll see that consistent growth.
But you just wanna add another player regardless into the mix at the defensive end position.
Zion Young, to me, makes a lot of sense, and if he's there with the 25th overall pick, I think that's one that Ryan Poles, this Bears team would be comfortable with taking.
Let me know what you think.
Zion Young, Bears, 25 overall in the first round.
Should the Bears take him if he's available?
