Bears OL Teven Jenkins began practicing with Chicago’s second-team offense towards the end of OTAs, and that continued throughout the club’s mandatory minicamp, per Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns of The Athletic (subscription required). Meanwhile, Braxton Jones has been operating as the first-string left tackle, with 2021 fifth-rounder Larry Borom at RT.
Jenkins, the No. 39 overall pick of the 2021 draft, was originally viewed as a future fixture on the blindside. Unfortunately, he was forced to undergo back surgery last August, and he ultimately appeared in just six games (two starts) as a rookie.
Although both Jenkins and Borom were selected by the Bears’ prior regime, the new coaching staff appeared plenty content to move forward with them as their first-stringers — Jenkins at RT and Borom at LT — just a couple of weeks ago. So it is notable that Jenkins has been demoted in favor of Jones, a rookie Day 3 selection.
Naturally, head coach Matt Eberflus downplayed the significance of the move. “We’re going to finish off the minicamp with this alignment, and then we’ll decide, ‘Hey, we like this alignment, that alignment,’ or, like I said, ‘(We) don’t like either one; let’s go with a new one,'” he said. “So we’re just assessing guys’ talents, assessing their skill level and going forward from there.”
With three unproven options vying for jobs as OL bookends in support of a second-year quarterback, Justin Fields, there is certainly plenty of logic in trying different alignments, particularly in OTAs and minicamp. But in a separate piece, Fishbain and Jahns suggest that there is more to Jenkins’ current status than Eberflus is letting on. Jahns posits that, if the Bears simply wanted to try Borom out on the right side, they could have shifted him to the second team to give him a look while keeping Jenkins with the first-team offense at RT, where he had been penciled in for months. Indeed, OL continuity is meaningful, even in spring work, and it appears that Jenkins is simply not performing at a high enough level right now.
Obviously, the alignment for the start of training camp will be particularly telling. While Eberflus was non-committal when asked if either Borom or Jenkins could see time at guard, both players lined up exclusively at tackle in practices that were open to the media.
Good thing Fields is fast! Hope they give him lots of roll out plays. Otherwise, it’s gonna be a lotta aspirin for him next season.
Same ol Bears complications I see. Have a talented player that plays a position they need to be flawless and they throw a day 3 rookie over there over him. He should be getting as much reps at LT as they can let him handle. Poor Josh Fields is going to be scrambling before his 2nd progression.
Another great draft pick Georgie! You have never hired a good football person. But then again you cant even spell football
The Bears draft baffled me. Snatched up the last 2 top tier DBs, Good players and all, but totally ignored Offensive line and WR, where they are almost naked. Seems like they should have prioritized help for there 2nd year QB.
If the Bears can’t stop anybody their offense gets no possession time anyway, so with Eberflus being a defensive coach, there is some logic to addressing that side of the ball first. Lots of rebuilding work to do no matter where you look though.
They drafted a whole offensive line so what are ya talking about Trouble? Leno played LT for 5 years and was a 7th round pick. They brought in Patrick to play C. Borom was a 5th rounder like Jones so I don’t get the angst. OL is a place where you can get quality players in the later rounds. Kramer was a very under the radar pick at C. I watched him for Illinois and he was better than average. So why don’t you see if they can play before you whine. Poles went in with 5 picks and came out with 11 so let’s see if he can draft before you bash the guy.
Steelers will happily add another Bears OL (as absurd as that sounds) if they have soured on Jenkins…
Dionte Johnson straight up? Who says no?
Daniels was horrible. Mitch already knows that. You got fleeced.
I’ll trust the Steelers talent evaluators over Da Bears any day of the week…so we’ll see
You’re trusting in Ryan Pace who is perfect in his high draft pick talent evaluations. He was wrong almost every time. The only time he was right was Roquan Smith. So now you have 2 of his classic misses, Mitch and Daniels. Give Kevin White a tryout and make it a trifecta.
The whole offense was garbage under Nagy. White was a complete bust. Jury is still out on Mitch. Daniels actually scored well in advanced metrics, so change of scenery may do him good as well. Not that the rest of the Steelers OL is much better than the Bears.
I don’t expect much out of Trubz but it wouldn’t shock me if he shows out. I think Daniels will be an upgrade on a declining Turner. And again, I’d gladly take Jenkins and plug him in at RT if/when he’s healthy.
As far as I’m concerned you can have Whitehair for a 6th round draft pick if you promise to take his 12 million dollar a year salary, which would give the Bears 32 million to play with on final cut down day to pick up some more talent. I expect barring injury, the Bears O Line to end up from left to right Jones,Whitehair,Patrick,Borom,and Jenkins. If somebody takes Whitehair then plug in Mustipher til a cutdown day lineman can be picked up. Works for me. Poles had to eat all Pace’s mistakes and decided to eat them all in one year so next year we have like 90 million in Cap space,some compensatory picks and for a change, All of our own draft picks except the 6th which can easily be replaced by trading down a bit. Patrick can also play G so lots of possibilities. Poles is doing a fine job so far with what little he had to work with. Either way, I’m reserving judgement til I see them play. Hopefully Eberflus isn’t like Nagy and actually lets the starters pay in the Pre Season.