Bears Improve Offensive Line Without Making Major Additions

Credit Ryan Poles for being able to upgrade his offensive line without using a lot of capital in free agency and the draft.

Final evaluations won’t be completed for a couple months but current indications suggest the Bears will enter the upcoming draft and free-agent signing period in surprisingly good shape on the offensive line. Poles has the flexibility to overhaul the line but may only look to add one starter and some depth pieces.

When Poles used his high draft picks elsewhere a year ago, it appeared he would need to prioritize the line in front of Justin Fields in 2023. He lessened the need for a massive upgrade by quietly adding tackle Braxton Jones in the fifth round in the ’22 draft, and is benefitting from the development of Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom, who were picked in the last of Ryan Pace’s drafts.

Consider the rankings by Pro Football Focus.

PFF ranked the Bears’ line 31st entering the season, ahead of only Seattle. They currently have it at 12th after allowing Green Bay to pressure Justin Fields only four times last week. The Bears not only lead the NFL in rushing yards but are 393 yards ahead of the No. 2 team, Atlanta.

Fields’ speed and creativity no doubt boosts that total but consider that Khalil Herbert was averaging 6.0 yards per run before he was sidelined by a hip injury. There’s little doubt that first-year head coach Matt Eberflus and his assistants made the right decision when they moved the line’s leader, Cody Whitehair, from center to left guard and switched Jenkins (a second-round pick in ’21) from tackle to right guard.

Jones, who wasn’t ranked highly while playing for Southern Utah, is a 6-7, 310-pound dynamo. He took over the left tackle spot in training camp and has played 809 snaps, the most on the line. PFF grades him 20th among 77 qualifying tackles.

Jenkins grades out best on the line. He is ranked fourth among 86 guards, with a caveat. He shared the position with veteran Michael Schofield early in the season, and has played 565 snaps, which is 350 fewer than the leader at the position (Washington’s Andrew Nowell).

Whitehair, who missed four games with a knee injury, has played 502 snaps and ranks 26th among guards. Veteran Riley Reiff and Borom rank 37th and 39 among tackles, respectively.

Sam Mustipher, a Notre Dame product who spent a season on the Bears’ practice squad after going undrafted, was briefly benched for Lucas Patrick but has received decent grades in his second season as a regular. He ranks 16th among 38 qualifying centers while playing the second most snaps on the line (796).

Patrick, signed to a two-year deal in March, serves as a depth player in the interior of the offensive line. A starter with Green Bay in 2020 and ’21, he started four games at guard and one at center before being sidelined with a toe injury.

Reiff, signed to a one-year, $3 million contract after helping Cincinnati reach the Super Bowl, isn’t likely to return. The Bears could turn that starter’s spot over to Borom or target a replacement in the draft or free agency.

Unfortunately for Mustipher, this appears to be a good cycle to add a front-line starter in free agency. Barring the signing of extensions, the Eagles’ Jason Kelce, the Browns’ Ethan Pocic, the Giants’ Connor McGovern, the Vikings’ Garrett Bradbury and the Panthers’ Bradley Bozeman will be unrestricted free agents in March. All five of them receive top-10 grades by PFF.

Poles and Eberflus will be able to build around the 2022 line. Whitehair is in the third year of the five-year, $51.25 million extension he signed before the 2019 season. Whitehair, Jenkins and Borom are under contract through 2024; Jones is controlled through ’25.