The Chicago Bears needed answers on defense after a rough showing during the 2025 season, and rookie safety Dillon Thieneman has quickly become one of them for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s unit. His versatility in the back end has stood out through the first four weeks of the season, and it’s earning him attention well beyond Chicago.

NFL Draft expert Dane Brugler of The Athletic recently released his All-Rookie Team after the first quarter of the 2026 regular season and had Thieneman as a first-string safety alongside fellow first-round pick Caleb Downs of the Dallas Cowboys.

On a recent episode of 4th & Football, Garrett Greenlee and Kyle Crabbs discussed which rookies have landed in the perfect spot with the team that drafted them. Greenlee picked Thieneman, and Crabbs agreed that the Bears safety was also on his short list.

It’s easy to see why these draft experts feel this way. Thieneman is the type of prospect who drew plenty of debate during the pre-draft process, and so far, Chicago is reaping the benefits of keeping things simple.

Dillon Thieneman is helping clean up a defense that started off on a bad note

The Bears had real concerns after Week 1’s game against the Carolina Panthers. Chicago allowed 37 points and let Bryce Young throw for over 350 yards. Greenlee pointed out that the performance was largely pinned on how bad the Bears’ defense looked heading into the season, before anyone knew the kind of start Young was about to put together.

Since then, Young has continued to ball out as one of the top QBs in the league, and Thieneman has helped steady the unit with his ability to line up wherever the defense needs him. He’s honestly been an eraser for this entire unit that has led the team in tackles in each of the first four games.

“That safety position in general, that can be challenging because sometimes you’ve got them playing half-field and the ball never comes their way,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said. “DA does a great job mixing up our coverages to where sometimes he’s the post safety, sometimes he’s playing quarters, he’s all over it. Sometimes he’s blitzing. . .

“We try to get him around the ball as much as we can just because we know his speed, his instincts. He’s a reliable tackler. We think all those things, the closer we can get him to the ball, the more playmaking opportunities will come his way. That’s certainly what showed up on tape in Oregon.”

Thieneman’s highlight play of the season so far came against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3, when Thieneman picked off a pass in primetime. Greenlee called it a cool moment to see a young player make such a big play this early in his career. But every game, you can see Thieneman flying around the field toward the football.

Why Ryan Poles deserves some credit for the Thieneman pick, even if some luck was involved

Greenlee noted in the podcast that he hoping his Minnesota Vikings would land Thieneman in the first-round, and made it clear he believed the evaluation was more complicated than it needed to be.

“This is a player that, again, I thought was significantly overthought,” Greenlee said. “Draft good football players, stamp it and move on with the selection. Credit to Ryan Poles for having him fall into your lap and making the pick.”

That’s a strong endorsement for the Bears, who simply just had to let the board come to them rather than forcing a different direction. Still, the reason some evaluators hesitated on Thieneman is worth understanding.

Thieneman’s college resume created confusion, and that’s exactly the point of why the Bears picked him

Crabbs explained that Thieneman was something of an extreme case during the evaluation process. At Purdue, he played as a high post safety. At Oregon, his role looked completely different. He was a glorified big nickel, third safety, middle-of-the-field hybrid, which created ambiguity for some evaluators trying to pin down his best position.

Crabbs also felt the same way about Caleb Downs. The common thread between both players is versatility, and that’s the value Thieneman has brought to Chicago. When one player can handle multiple roles in the secondary, the coaching staff gets a lot more flexibility from week to week and it’s really helped in a big way for the Bears with all of the players missing in the secondary.

What comes next for the Bears rookie

It’s still early, but Thieneman is off a strong start to his first season of his NFL career. The traits that made Thieneman tough to categorize before the draft are the same traits making him valuable on Sundays. He doesn’t need one defined role to make an impact, and that’s the sort of player a defense can build around.

He’s been a perfect fit culture-wise for the kind of players Ben Johnson wanted to bring to this team, and the ideal chess piece for Dennis Allen to build his coverages around.

“DA is doing a great job trying to put him in those spots, and he’s capitalizing on it,” Johnson added. “This is a guy that eats, sleeps, and breathes football all the time. He’s always the last guy out there on the practice field doing extra. You can tell it’s adding up each and every week.”

What will really make Thieneman’s impact scary is when the Bears get Coby Bryant back from injury to add to that position. The team’s top free agent addition as been out since the start of training camp and will continue to be out for another 1.5 months after suffering a knee injury in practice.

Once he’s back, the Bears will have two demons at safety to build this defense around.