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The Chicago Bears arrive at Halas Hall soon to kick off Training Camp, with rookies reporting on Saturday, July 25, and veterans following on Tuesday, July 28. As is tradition, we’re going to spend the week taking stock of the roster and setting the scene for the annual unofficial start to the season.
The goal of any NFL team during the offseason is to acquire as many starters as they can, and Chicago landed two starters in the same position group with the signing of Coby Bryant and the selection of Dillon Thieneman in the NFL Draft. Not a bad way to rebuild a room that allowed a veteran All-Pro safety and a former premium draft pick to walk and sign deals elsewhere this offseason.
The Starters: Coby Bryant, Dillon Thieneman
Coby Bryant’s 2025 Stats: 15 G, 66 Tackles, 39 Solo, 4 Interceptions, 1 Forced Fumble, 7 Passes Defended
Coby Bryant’s ESPN 2026 Projections: 74 Tackles, 2 Interceptions
Dillon Thieneman’s 2025 Stats (College): 92 Tackles, 44 Solo, 2 Interceptions, 1 Sack, 5 Passes Defended
Dillon Thieneman’s ESPN 2026 Projections: 82 Tackles, 1.8 Interceptions
The apple of the front office’s eye this offseason was the rebuilding of the safety position, and they hit a home run, landing Coby Bryant via free agency and Dillon Thieneman in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
General Manager Ryan Poles and the Bears rolled the dice this offseason, letting captain and veteran All-Pro safety Kevin Byard III walk in free agency, and former second-rounder Jaquan Brisker thereafter. We’ve got to put pads on and play football, but for now, it looks like Poles and Co.’s gamble paid off in a big way.
Chicago replaced Byard—who led the NFL in interceptions last season with seven—and Brisker with Bryant and Thieneman. Bryant arrives with a Super Bowl ring in hand after playing his first four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. Thieneman arrived via the 25th overall selection in the NFL Draft, and his track record at Oregon and Purdue is filled with accolades.
Bryant and Thieneman walk into camp as the clear-cut starters at safety, and short of a surprise, that’s how the summer should end too. The more interesting question was never the depth chart; it is what Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen does with the pairing. Both bring the kind of positional versatility that lets a coordinator disguise coverages and move pieces pre-snap without tipping his hand, and that’s a luxury this defense didn’t really have last year.
MORE: Why Coby Bryant Was a Priority Addition for the Bears’ Defense
That flexibility is also why the safety spots can’t be evaluated in isolation. The more ways Bryant and Thieneman can be deployed—deep, in the box, over the slot—the more it reshapes how Allen uses his corners and structures the back end as a whole. It’s the connective tissue between the nickel picture and the cornerback competition, and it’s the reason this position group is worth tracking beyond just the names at the top.
If the fit is what Chicago is betting on, camp won’t be about who starts. It’ll be about how much of Allen’s vision these two can actually unlock, and whether the added speed and interchangeability translate into a back end that’s harder to scheme against than the one opposing offenses picked apart at times last season.
Who’s New?
Bryant and Thieneman aren’t the only additions to that position group this offseason. Chicago also added Cam Lewis in free agency and depth pieces like Skyler Thomas (undrafted free agent) and Anthony Johnson Jr. (free agent).
Lewis is a piece that makes the math work. He won’t unseat either starter, but his value was never about the top of the depth chart. It’s the same versatility that defines the Bryant-Thieneman pairing, just in a utility-knife package. Lewis can slide between safety and the slot, which gives Allen a movable body to plug in when he wants to get exotic with his looks or cover for a rotation.
NEW BEARS SAFETIES: Bryant | Thieneman | Lewis
In a secondary being built around interchangeability, a defender who can credibly line up in multiple spots is exactly the kind of glue piece that keeps the whole structure flexible rather than rigid.
Behind that trio, the competition thins into developmental territory. Undrafted rookie Skyler Thomas and free-agent addition Anthony Johnson Jr. figure to spend camp and the preseason fighting for reserve reps and a foothold on the back end of the roster. Neither is likely to factor into the early-season plan, but summer bodies matter. Special teams value, injury insurance, and preseason snaps are all decided in these battles.
For now, though, the story at safety lives at the top, in how Allen weaponizes three defenders who can each do more than one job.
Who’s Back?
For a position group that has been reshaped, the list of holdovers is short. With Byard, Brisker, and Owens all out the door, there are more new faces than familiar ones in the safety room this summer.
The names that carry over are Elijah Hicks and Gervarrius Owens. Neither projects into the starting conversation with Bryant and Thieneman locked in at the top. Still, both know the building, the scheme, and Allen’s expectations, and that kind of continuity has value in a room otherwise full of newcomers.
Hicks has logged meaningful snaps in Chicago before and offers a known commodity as depth and on special teams. At the same time, Owens rounds out the group as a familiar body competing to hang onto a roster spot. In a summer defined by fresh arrivals, they’re the only thread connecting this safety corps to the one that came before it.
One Bears Player to Watch
It has to be Dillon Thieneman, right? Bryant is a known commodity, and you have a pretty good sense of what he is and what he gives you. Thieneman is the variable, and he’s the one who took this safety rebuild from good to great the moment his name came off the board at No. 25.
That’s what makes him the summer’s most compelling watch. First-round pedigree raises the stakes on every rep: how quickly the game slows down for him, whether the range and instincts that made him a first-rounder show up against NFL speed, and how much of Allen’s disguise-heavy vision he can shoulder as a rookie. The ceiling is what pushed Chicago to spend premium draft capital here, but rookies rarely arrive as finished products, and the gap between flashing it in shells and doing it in pads is where camp earns its keep.
Keep an eye on how fast he climbs. If Thieneman looks the part early (communicating, triggering downhill, holding up in coverage), discussions about the safety group stop being a projection and will turn to this group looking like one of the more improved units on the roster. The rookie is the swing piece, and how he handles his first camp will tell you plenty about just how high this back end’s ceiling really is for this group.
