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Bears select Dillon Thieneman in 1st round of NFL Draft! | Take The North
25 Apr 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: Who did the Bears select in the first round of the NFL Draft?
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bears fans this is take the north what's the reason duck it's here with your host of these guys dan weederer the whole key to sustaining success in this league is to have a quarterback play that is top tier and can consistently push you down those roads and mark grody we're allowed to at this point bears fans are allowed to right now dream big and predict what you want out of the season we're going to take the north and never give it back
Hello again, everybody, and welcome in to the Take the North podcast, along with my man, Dan Wiederer of The Athletic. I am Mark Brody of 104.3 The Score. And Dan, I would call it a fortuitous... I would use the word excellent to describe what the Bears were able to get done in night one of the draft. And that is to draft at number 25 in the first round.
Chapter 2: What are the initial reactions to Dillon Thieneman's selection?
The second best safety in the draft in Dylan Thienemann out of Oregon. He was available, Dan. That was, I don't know how you felt, and I should make it clear here, I am in downtown Chicago right now. Dan has been at the Bears draft headquarters in Hallas Hall, taking in all the reaction from out there. What was the reaction?
What is your reaction to the Bears getting Dylan Thienemann, who we'll talk all about, who is an absolutely excellent safety out of Oregon, played at Purdue as well?
Yeah, Mark, it's so interesting because we talked obviously for weeks and really months about this intriguing list of options that the Bears would likely have available to them at number 25. And you felt like the menu was going to be really nice when they came on the clock. That was certainly the case here tonight. I don't think either one of us expected Dylan Thienemann to be there.
Chapter 3: How does Dillon Thieneman fit into the Bears' defense?
And so you and I, I think, both had mocked Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, the safety from Toledo to the Bears, with the understanding that we felt like Thienemann would go earlier. Ryan Polz tonight said that as they ran all their countless simulations, that it was about 50-50. About half the time Thienemann was there, half the time he wasn't.
So there was no way they were banking on this being an option available to them. But when it was, it felt like an absolute must in pulling the trigger and bringing in a safety with proven playmaking production, With size, range, versatility, violence, and then just the character fit that we've talked about for a while. You heard Jeff King say it the other day. They want competitors.
They want guys who are very passionate and driven to be the best that they can be at football. And Thienemann checks a lot of boxes.
Chapter 4: What qualities make Dillon Thieneman a good safety?
And the other thing that I'll say before I turn it back over to you is we talked on our Take the North Live episode about ā
wanting an adrenaline rush on night one of the draft but also wanting to be able to get a good night's sleep and feeling like you got a sure thing i think the bears are going to go to bed here on thursday night feeling like that not you know as sure of a thing as the draft can provide you feel like you've got a guy that's slotted and slated to be a week one starter for you and should bring everything to the table that's going to make him a contributor in your program for a while
Yeah, and Ryan Paul, to be clear, said what they have to say is that he will compete for the job, but one would suspect that he's going to have the foot forward, so to speak. That would be the indication. obviously drafting this guy where he was. And I want to get back to another word we need to use when we describe Dylan Thienemann in a second.
But just to illustrate how kind of unexpected, I guess it was, that there were so many players on the board at 25 that the Bears could have taken that we didn't know where they were going to go. And we talked about it a ton, and maybe we were on to something with just ā how gray area this draft was.
But at number 24, Cleveland takes the wide receiver Casey Concepcion, which was a lot of people thought that he was drafted a little bit too high.
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Chapter 5: What were the Bears' other options at pick 25?
But then available were Dylan Thienemann, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who Dan just mentioned, Caleb Lomu, the tackle, TJ Parker was available. Caden McDonald, who is still available, by the way, was available previously. Peter Wood, Zion Young, who is still available right now. And then there was some quarterbacks, top-notch quarterbacks that were available as well when the Bears were picking.
So it was just this wild menu of all these guys that we had talked about, and the Bears did go for the need. And, of course, they said that it was the highest player on their board as well. But it sure, I don't know. I don't know if it felt like need to me, Dan, I suppose.
Well, no, I mean, look, we talked about need at four positions, right? Edge, defensive tackle, left tackle, and safety.
Chapter 6: How did the Bears' draft strategy evolve during the selection process?
And so when you can marry those two things up with best player available and an obvious opening for a starting role on your roster, it's there for you. I think it's going to be really interesting to kind of watch Dylan Thienemann act
acclimate in into this defense he's got to learn about dennis allen we asked him a little bit on that very quick zoom call you know these guys their heads spinning they haven't studied the team that they're coming to join he doesn't know a ton about dennis allen yet he'll learn quickly and then he's going to have to learn about kobe bryant because the bears envision a scenario where they have these two fast versatile violent type playmakers on the back end of the defense that that can be interchangeable and even throw kyler gordon into that conversation when you're playing
When you're playing chess and you're moving guys around and you're trying to disguise things and keep an offense off balance, they've got some things to play around with now. I think the quest to get faster on defense has been accomplished with these two new safeties that are going to start for them. Now you've just got to go about putting that into action.
Obviously, with two newcomers, these guys have to try to gel pretty quickly.
Right, and with all due respect to the other guys who will be competing for that strong safety and title, I suppose, position, with all due respect to Cam Lewis and Elijah Hicks, this just makes it the way it's perfect now. I mean, you've got nice depth pieces. You just don't necessarily want to hand over the reins to either of those guys as you're starting safety.
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Chapter 7: What are the expectations for Thieneman's rookie season?
And to your point, too, just getting people refreshed on Kobe Bryant, and then we'll talk about the versatility of Dylan Thieneman as well. Kobe Bryant, again, last year played the free safety position, but the season before that, he was the strong safety for the entire year. Early in his career, he was a cornerback. He was a cornerback. So literally, these guys do it all.
I was reading one little scouting blurb about bringing it back to Dylan Thienemann now. Hybrid safety, who wore a variety of hats. Deep middle, robber, nickel, etc., So it is, you know, the wave of the future, I think, at the position.
Chapter 8: What does the future hold for the Bears after this draft?
But moreover, with Dennis Allen and identifying, you mentioned Kyler Gordon on day one, basically identifying Kyler Gordon as loving him because of his versatility. And I've kind of taken cues from there. And I think we all have in that media room at House Hall.
Yeah, that's that's the direction they want to go. And as this identity starts to form a little bit more with with hand chosen players, right, like guys that you've selected to come in and fit exactly what you're trying to do, things should come to life a little bit more. I thought it was really interesting to hear Ryan Poles tonight say that this was very easy tape to watch.
When referring to Dylan Thienemann, because there's a play style there. Again, it's instinctive. It's aggressive. You feel it. And he said, look, he's gotten to the point now where he can sit in a room with Ben Johnson, and if they're watching tape, Ben doesn't have to say anything. Ryan can just tell. he's getting excited by his body language and his mannerisms.
And you could tell talking to Dylan Thieneman tonight that he's going to be the exact kind of player that Ben Johnson loves, because you can just feel kind of the genuine love of the game and the genuine, you know, drive to be the best at the game coming out of them. Obviously we know how, how Ben is wired in that regard. And so, yeah.
And Paul's liking that to Colson Loveland said, you know, a year ago, you had a guy that came in with a ton of passion and a ton of work ethic and you saw the results. And so he's, If the Bears can get anywhere near the results out of Dylan Thienemann in his rookie season that they got out of Colson Lowen to arrow up.
Yeah, I mean, there's all sorts of different reasons to be excited about Dylan Thienemann as well. And there is a Midwest flavor going on here, too. He's from Westfield, Indiana, where you and I both have really close friends. Doesn't Rich Campbell live in Westfield? He does indeed, yeah.
Yeah, and I got a buddy of mine that I went to college with who I'm very close with, lives in Westfield, Indiana. That's where the Colts train, and we were there for the dual practices there from a couple of years ago. But he also played ball at Purdue. He has two brothers who also played safety at Purdue. But Dylan Thieneman, Dan, he's a little bit of a rebel.
He couldn't handle it at the losing at Purdue at the time. He was like ā yo, get me somewhere else. So while he is deeply rooted, obviously, with all sorts of praise from Westfield, Indiana, and that part of Indiana, he definitely was there.
Yeah, and look, he said that the transfer from Purdue to Oregon was largely based on wanting better competition, better coaching, more spotlight, just trying to take that next step in his career. I mean, this kid came in to Purdue as a true freshman, played and had six interceptions.
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