Bears OL coach Dan Roushar puts the left tackle position on blast but notes it’s not an easy solution to fix it this offseason
The Chicago Bears have a real hole on the offensive line and it’s going to be hard to properly address it.
When Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson met with the media on Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine, the team’s need at left tackle was briefly brought up and it’s clear the team is mulling various different options.
“That’s a unique situation for us,” Poles explained. “We’re trying to determine how to fill that space with what we have. I know we want to keep Darnell [Wright] and Jonah [Jackson] together; we have a real cool right side. So, then there’s the draft. There’s free agency, some options in free agency, re-signing your own and then you have [Theo Benedet’s] development. And we’ve yet to put a whole offseason together with Kiran [Amegadjie], but he has shown promise at times.”
Last season, the Bears ended up starting three different players at left tackle in Braxton Jones, Benedet, and 2025 second-round rookie Ozzy Trapilo. Trapilo easily looked like the best option of the three and had potential to be a long-term answer until he suffered a patellar tendon injury in the postseason.
“He’ll miss most of the year, but we expect him to come back and heal from that,” Poles said of Trapilo. “There’s a plan in place. I can’t give it a timeline or anything like that. I just don’t know. But yeah, we’re expecting him to be back and be himself. Pretty significant injury that he’s got to get through. But in terms of affecting his overall career or next year (2027), I don’t see that being an issue.”
What is an issue is what the Bears plan to do in 2026. And it’s something veteran offensive line coach Dan Roushar has a real concern about.
Dan Roushar understands the Bears’ need at left tackle and how it’s not going to be an easy fix
“I told all three of them this, I know what the left tackle position looks like in this league,” Roushar told former Pro Bowl tackle Terron Armstead on Armstead’s podcast. “You were the standard. That’s a rare player that comes along, but somebody has to play that position similar to that. It’s a faceless, nameless, guy right now. It has to become the way we play the game at left tackle similar to what’s being done at right tackle. Is that player in the building? I think there’s guys that have traits, but not consistent enough and not the way we want it done consistently.”
That’s a pretty strong stance on how Roushar feels about the players he currently has to work with, which right now consists of Benedet and Amegadjie. Poles did mention Jones as a player the Bears could look to re-sign to add more competition to the building. Outside of that, it’s hard to see the Bears try to force that up the list of needs compared to other needs on the roster.
Which means, I don’t expect the Bears to spend big money or use a high draft pick to add a left tackle option this offseason, unless the perfect option presents itself to the team. The Bears will likely have to make do with what they have for another year and Roushar understands that part of it as well.
“You can address that in free agency, you can address that in the draft,” Roushar said. “But to find [Armstead’s level of play] or Darnell’s play, that requires… a couple of years. It takes, probably, draft capital or an asset we currently don’t have. It’s probably most likely either through free agency or it’s here in the building. My opinion is… it’s here. So, that’s how we’re going to approach it, we’re going to work with the guys we got, and we’re going to make it better.”
Having a full offseason with a healthy Jones, Benedet, and Amegadjie to work with really isn’t that bad of a plan. Roushar has yet to see Jones or Amegadjie fully healthy and only got a short span to work with Benedet until he lost his starting job due to an injury of his own.
It’s worth noting that Roushar singled Wright out as teach tape for how he wants things to look at left tackle. Wright is coming off a second-team All Pro season but the notable part is that Roushar publicly called out Wright’s consistency last offseason as well and look what he turned into.
If Roushar can unlock Wright’s game and turn him into a top player at his position, I have confidence in him finding a way to make things work at left tackle this offseason with what’s in the building.
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