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(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson did not invest much in the defensive line in this year’s NFL draft, though the team made an intriguing move along the defensive front once the seventh round concluded.
Chicago signed defensive tackle Jayden Loving out of Wake Forest as an undrafted free agent following the conclusion of the draft, adding an exceptional athlete to the position group heading into offseason work.
“Loving’s stock rose tremendously after dominating at the Demon Deacons’ Pro Day, putting together 99th-percentile testing for the defensive tackle position,” Jacob Infante of Windy City Gridiron wrote Sunday, April 26, describing Loving as a “freak athlete” in his analysis. “His athletic profile perfectly fits with the all-green athletic profile haul Chicago put together with their draft picks.”
Loving stands at six-feet, two-inches tall and weighs 317 pounds, per ESPN. He tallied 44 combined tackles, 23.5 pressures, 8.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and one pass breakup last season, his fourth in college and first at Wake Forest. Loving played the two years prior at Western Kentucky.
“He got on NFL radars for his ability to stop the run at every stop he went to,” Infante continued.
Chicago is in desperate need of that skill set across the heart of its defensive front, after the group allowed 5.0 yards per rush to opposing offenses last year, which ranked 29th in the league.
GettyChicago Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
Lance Zierlein of NFL Network noted that Loving has a “rare blend of quickness and explosiveness” at the position, which Chicago is lacking.
“Loving has average size and short arms, but his elite testing numbers are evident on tape. He has knock-back pop and can stall out single blocks while giving a good fight against double-teams,” Zierlein wrote. “His foot quickness and rare acceleration allow him to burst to ball-carriers and quarterbacks at a high rate of speed. Loving’s rush is fueled by athleticism over skill, and he’ll need to improve the latter to win at a higher rate in the league.”
Loving clearly possesses the type of physical skills that NFL coaches can’t teach. Chicago is clearly betting that defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and his position coaches can add the technique required to render Loving a meaningful contributor to the defense, potentially during his rookie campaign and possibly well beyond.
The Bears spent one pick on the defensive line during the draft, selecting Jordan van den Berg out of Georgia Tech. Chicago traded two seventh-round selections (Nos. 239 and 241) to jump up to pick No. 213 in Round 6 and acquire the defensive tackle there.
“Van den Berg was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2025 after recording 10 tackles for loss,” ESPN’s Courtney Cronin wrote. “The Bears weren’t enamored with this year’s crop of defensive linemen and chose to prioritize other positions instead of adding impact players to their pass rush.”
Chicago signed DTs Neville Gallimore, Kentavious Street and James Lynch to short-term deals in free agency to bolster depth across the unit.
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group's family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible
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