Chicago Bears desire to bring out competition is going to be the best thing for this revamped process of constructing the offensive line
One of the biggest flaws in the Ryan Poles Era with the Chicago Bears has been the failure to properly build a competitive and deep offensive line.Between two different quarterbacks in Justin Fields and now with Caleb Williams, the Bears have struggled to protect the most important position and continuously overlooked the importance of building […]
One of the biggest flaws in the Ryan Poles Era with the Chicago Bears has been the failure to properly build a competitive and deep offensive line.
Between two different quarterbacks in Justin Fields and now with Caleb Williams, the Bears have struggled to protect the most important position and continuously overlooked the importance of building the trenches.
After watching helplessly as Williams was sacked a league-high 68 times during his rookie season, Poles finally understood the process needed to change this offseason.
A big piece in helping with that process this time around was head coach Ben Johnson, who came from a team in the Detroit Lions who dominated up-front. Based on what he had in Detroit, Johnson knew the team needed to add some "tough, gritty, dirty individuals" to the offensive line.
That process started just before the start of the new league year when the Bears made two trades to land a multi-time All-Pro in Joe Thuney and a former Pro Bowler who previously worked with Johnson in Jonah Jackson. And once free agency opened, the Bears made quick work in signing the top ranked center, Drew Dalman.
"'Smart' is a word that comes to mind, particularly with the interior players. We would love to have some versatility to our scheme, some multiplicity if you will. We've got a couple guys in the building now that we feel strongly can handle a variety of different concepts and schemes that we might want to employ each and every week," Johnson said back in March. "Beyond that, their play speaks for themselves in terms of what the tape says. The character, the integrity, it's top notch."
Already you can see how the process had changed in building the offensive line heading into 2025 but the work was far from over. Johnson routinely mentioned how having a strong offensive line goes beyond having a great starting five, you need to have great players ready to go behind them as well.
That's something the Bears learned the hard way in 2024 after having a revolving door of players all over the offensive front once the starters began going down with injuries. That's why, in the 2025 NFL Draft this past weekend, the Bears went out and selected two new offensive linemen who might not even start right out of the gate.
"I'm not sure how it's going to play out," Poles said about where the new additions fit into the mix. "I know it's going to be a very competitive training camp and offseason. Whatever best five come out of that are going to be the guys that are going to start for us. But as we know around here for the last three years, we've been going through a lot of different rotations and a lot of different people, so to have guys that are going to be reliable and dependable as things happen throughout the season is a good place. We want that depth. Those guys have really good role models and vets ahead of them to learn how to play this game at a high level."
Ozzy Trapilo, the second-round pick out of Boston College, is a massive player who has experience at both tackle positions. He's also is now the second-highest drafted offensive lineman Poles has selected as the Bears general manager behind 2024 first-round pick Darnell Wright.
"Ozzy's dependable, disciplined, [a] technician, very intelligent," Poles explained. "He's tough, strong. We look at lean mass for the bigs. He's a very dense player that can get movement at the point of attack, anchor well. Tall player that needs to continue to bend, but he's going to do a really good job. Just a very reliable player for us."
On Day 3, the team also went out to select Michigan State's Luke Newman who has playing experience at left guard and left tackle with the ability to line up at center as well once he fully develops.
"Watching tape, we were really impressed with feet and hands," Poles said. "[They] were always in the right place. Physical, tough player that also can play guard and can play center, can handle communication, so we're really excited about developing him."
Th main takeaway here is that the Bears brought in guys who are going to compete and earn their way into a starting position. That might be uncomfortable for the players already on the roster, and good. It should be uncomfortable.
Making the starting five should be a difficult task to accomplish, not something that's just handed to you. And if you're not on the starting five, the Bears made sure to dependable and reliable players willing to step in and play at a high level. That's how you build an offensive line and it's great to see the Bears finally embrace that mindset.
Chicago Bears’ answer to finding depth off the edge could be solved by getting creative with the guys already on the roster
They have the pieces to make it work.
