Amid a mostly futile season in which the Bears plunged to the absolute bottom of the NFL, general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus had a few developmental success stories.
The most notable were left tackle Braxton Jones and linebacker Jack Sanborn, whom they plucked from relative college football obscurity and turned into starters. Jones was a late fifth-round pick from Southern Utah who quickly claimed the top spot on the offensive line and hasn’t let go, and Sanborn made the team as an undrafted free agent from Wisconsin and took Roquan Smith’s job when the Bears traded him.
