The Chicago Bears offensive line is once again a focal point during the offseason, where there are questions across the board. Mainly, what will the starting lineup look like come Week 1?
The offensive line remains a work in progress, but it’s safe to say that most of the pieces are already in place. The one glaring hole is at the tackle position. Braxton Jones figures to factor into the starting lineup, it’s just a matter of which side he’ll line up on.
Chicago made just one move along the offensive line in free agency, adding guard Nate Davis. While there were a number of solid veteran options on the market, general manager Ryan Poles didn’t overpay to fill the need at tackle.
Instead, it sounds like the Bears will turn to the NFL draft to address their offensive tackle need instead of trying to fill the hole in the waning waves of free agency.
“When you get to this point of free agency, it drops off,” Poles said at the NFL owners meetings, via ChicagoBears.com. “The salaries drop off, talent, experience drops off. You do have a wave of players offensively and defensively that will go through the draft because they kind of want to see how everything settles. So, we’ll keep an eye on those players. But right now, to improve our team, I think we’ve got to look to the draft.”
There are some top options that should be on the board when Chicago picks at No. 9, including Ohio State’s Paris Johnson Jr., Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski and Georgia’s Broderick Jones. But this is also a deep class, which means Chicago could find their starter on Day 2, whether it’s Tennessee’s Darnell Wright, Syracuse’s Matthew Bergeron or Maryland’s Jaelyn Duncan.
Where things stand, the Bears offensive line looks like this: Braxton Jones (LT), Nate Davis (LG), Cody Whitehair (C), Teven Jenkins (RG) and Larry Borom (RT).
There’s definitely one starting job that needs to be filled at right tackle, where Borom is a placeholder. And you could make an argument for center, as well. If Chicago can find a more affordable option at center in the draft, Whitehair could become the team’s latest cap casualty.
