During his time as general manager of the Bears, Ryan Poles has shown a penchant for adding players from the Chicagoland area.
Rookie additions like Jack Sanborn, Kiran Amegadjie, and Doug Kramer have all hailed from the surrounding Chicago area. Poles has signed veterans from the region like T.J. Edwards and Robert Tonyan. Should the right value come up again in the 2026 NFL Draft, we could see another Chicagoland native brought into the fold.
There aren’t too many early-round prospects from the Chicago area in the 2026 draft, though I’d keep an eye on St. Ignatius alumni and current Miami defensive tackle Justin Scott for the 2027 NFL Draft. Instead, this year features a lot of really good depth hailing from the state of Illinois.
Please note that this list only consists of players who went to high school in Illinois, rather than prospects from schools in the state or surrounding areas (i.e. Notre Dame). Without further ado, these are the Chicagoland prospects worth noting in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Note: These players are listed in order of their high school recruiting rankings from 247Sports. Older prospects are listed near the top, as well.
The Bears hosted Athan Kaliakmanis on a local prospect visit, according to, well, me. He went to Antioch High School and started in 42 games between his stints with Minnesota and Rutgers.
Kaliakmanis is very much a pocket passer who won’t wow you with his arm talent or athleticism, necessarily. However, his experience shows in his compact throwing motion, his good sense of timing, and his poise in the pocket. He projects as a game-manager at the next level, and while I have an undrafted grade on him, there’s a chance he sneaks into the later rounds with his refined skill set and experience against Power 4 competition.
Hailing from Willowbrook, Enrique Cruz Jr. started at tackle in college but arguably projects better at guard at the next level. He comes into the NFL with 29 total starts between stints with Syracuse and Kansas.
When I watch Cruz’s tape, I come away impressed with his physicality at the point of attack. He generates some serious pop behind his pads, and he does a great job of keeping his legs churning through contact. Though his flexibility and agility are issues on tape — hence why I project him moving inside in the pros — he had an impressive 4.94 40-yard dash with a 92nd-percentile 10-yard split at the Combine. There are tools to work with there.
A key part of Indiana’s offensive line in their run to a national championship, Pat Coogan went to high school at Marist, playing there at the same time as two other players on this list. He was a two-year starter at Notre Dame before joining the Hoosiers in 2025, receiving second-team All-Big Ten honors.
Though Coogan won’t wow you as an athlete, he certainly has the technique and the football IQ needed to thrive at center. He’s versatile from a zone-gap run blocking standpoint, and he brings ideal physicality and grip strength to the table. His spatial awareness helps him find work in pass protection, and he’s capable of executing his assignment in zone situations as a run blocker consistently. Coogan is a little stiff in the lower half, but he has the potential be a solid backup at the next level.
A Kenwood alumnus and a Chicago native, Lewis Bond was actually recruits out of high school as a running back. It’s interesting, then, that he’s grown into a team captain for Boston College at wide receiver who finished his collegiate career as the school’s all-time leader with 213 career receptions.
Bond is considered slightly undersized at 5’11” and 197 pounds, but he makes up for it with steady hands: he has a career drop rate of only 4.9%. As a route runner, he’s crisp out of his breaks and adjusts his stems to exploit leverage he sees against varying coverage looks. He’s crafty in how he uses his hands to create separation off the line of scrimmage, too. He won’t wow you with pure deep speed or play strength, but he’s a better football player than Combine-setting tester. Bond belongs in the NFL.
George Gumbs Jr. came out of Simeon as a wide receiver, committing to Northern Illinois. It was there he made the switch to tight end and eventually defensive end, and his success at NIU at the latter earned him a scholarship with Florida as a transfer. He spent his final two years in college as a key member of the Gators’ defense.
As it pertains to the Bears, Gumbs might not have the size that Dennis Allen historically prefers in an edge rusher at 245 pounds. However, he has solid length and wins often with his athleticism and flexibility. He’s quick off the line of scrimmage, showcases good closing speed in pursuit as a defender in space, and he plays with a more refined counter game than one would expect for his inexperience. Gumbs will need some work in an NFL strength program to improve how he sets the edge and converts speed to power, but I like him as depth in a base 3-4 system as an outside linebacker.
In the first year of PFSN’s TE Impact Scoring, Tanner Koziol led the nation with an 86.5 score. A Bloomingdale native who went to Mount Vernon for high school, he ranks second in FBS history among all tight ends with 237 career receptions.
Koziol is a tall, lanky tight end at 6’7” and 247 pounds. He’s a sure-handed pass catcher with impressive ball skills, which combines with his catch radius to make him a nightmare to defend in contested catch situations. He’s a little top-heavy as a blocker, and his high center of gravity makes sudden movements as a route runner difficult. But Koziol is such a power forward-type tight end who squares up to the ball well in the air, has enough quickness to create separation across the middle of the field, and win at the catch point.
Mason Reiger comes from Hoffman Estates and attended Conant High School. He was a solid contributor for Louisville before transferring to Wisconsin, where he had five sacks in 2025. He heads into the 2026 NFL Draft with the second-high vertical jump for an edge rusher in this class at 40 inches, as well as being tied for the fourth-longest broad jump at his position at 10’5”.
Though Reiger didn’t run insanely well at the Combine, I like the acceleration he shows coming off the snap on tape. Against Iowa in particular, I liked the quickness he displayed and the flexibility at the top of his arc as a pass rusher. He has a nice arsenal of moves he can use to shed blocks, and I like his inside move to work across an offensive tackle’s chest. His body control can improve, as he’s a little too loopy and winded in his movements. His anchor strength against the run could also get better. That said, I like Reiger as a depth piece off the edge.
Of the 753 qualified offensive linemen across the FBS, Keagen Trost led all of them with a near-perfect 99.9 PFSN OL Impact Score this season. A zero-star recruit coming out of Kankakee High School, Trost bounced around from Morgan State, Indiana State, and Wake Forest before landing at Mizzou for his final year of collegiate eligibility. In addition to his high score, he was a first-team All-American in 2025. Needless to say, joining the Tigers was a great decision.