The Bears on Tuesday signed all seven of their 2020 draft picks to four-year contracts. The group consists of the following players:
Round 2 (43): TE Cole Kmet, Notre Dame
Round 2 (50): CB Jaylon Johnson, Utah
Round 5 (155): OLB Trevis Gipson, Tulsa
Round 5 (163): CB Kindle Vildor, Georgia Southern
Round 5 (173): WR Darnell Mooney, Tulane
Round 7 (226): OL Arlington Hambright, Colorado
Round 7 (227): OL Lachavious Simmons, Tennessee State
The following is a capsule look at each player.
Kmet was a three-year contributor at Notre Dame. He emerged as a playmaker last season, establishing career highs in all receiving categories with 43 receptions, 515 yards and six touchdowns despite missing the first three games with a broken collarbone.
An avid Bears fan who grew up in Lake Barrington, Kmet starred in football and baseball at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights. His father, Frank, was a lineman on the Bears practice squad in 1993 who also hails from the Chicago area, attending Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.
Johnson was a two-time first-team All-Pac 12 selection at Utah, where he played in 38 games with 29 starts the past three seasons and recorded 102 tackles, seven interceptions—two of which he returned for touchdowns—21 pass breakups and one sack.
The 6-foot, 195-pounder's best year was 2018 when he set career highs with 41 tackles and four interceptions. Last season Johnson earned second-team All-America honors. He started 13 games, ranking third in the Pac-12 with a team-leading 11 pass breakups.
Gipson was a two-year starter at Tulsa, where he earned first-team All-American Athletic Conference honors last year as a senior after setting career highs with 49 tackles, eight sacks and 15 tackles-for-loss. As a junior, he registered 46 tackles, four sacks and nine tackles-for-loss. Gipson forced eight fumbles during his college career, tying for second in the nation with five in 2018.
The Bears selected Gipson in the fifth round with a pick they acquired in a trade with the Vikings in exchange for a 2021 fourth-round choice.
Vildor started his final two and a half seasons at Georgia Southern, where he was named first-team Sun Belt Conference last year as a senior after recording 27 tackles, three tackles-for-loss, two interceptions and six pass breakups.
As a junior in 2018, Vildor started all 13 games and was named second-team All-American and the Sun Belt Player of the Year by Pro Football Focus after compiling 42 tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss and a team-leading four interceptions and 11 pass breakups.
A four-year starter at Tulane, Mooney played in 49 games and caught 151 passes for 2,529 yards and 19 touchdowns with a long reception of 86 yards. He had a breakout junior season in 2018, catching 48 passes for 993 yards and eight TDs. He followed last year with 45 receptions for 670 yards and five TDs.
Mooney ran a 4.38 in the 40 at the NFL Combine, tied for the fifth fastest among all prospects. He wasn't surprised by his time.
The Bears chose Mooney with a fifth-round pick they obtained along with a seventh-rounder from the Eagles in exchange for two picks in the sixth round and one in the seventh.
Arlington Hambright
Last season as a graduate student at Colorado, Hambright started all 12 games at left tackle and was named honorable mention All-Pac 12 by the league's coaches. The 6-4, 300-pounder transferred to Colorado after earning his undergraduate degree at Oklahoma State last May.
Hambright started his college career at Garden City Community College in Kansas before enrolling at Oklahoma State, where he redshirted in 2017. In 2018, he started the first five games before suffering an injury that sidelined him until he returned for the Liberty Bowl.
Lachavious Simmons
Simmons played every offensive line position except center during four seasons at Tennessee State, appearing in 41 games. During a conference call with the media after the draft, the 6-5, 315-pounder described himself as a "bloody-your-nose type of guy on the field."
Simmons was the only player from a historically black college and university (HBCU) selected in this year's NFL Draft. He was nicknamed "Pig" as a kid by his grandmother because of the way he'd devour some of her special dishes.
With all seven 2020 draft picks signing their rookie contracts, take a look at each of the newly-signed Bears.