Windy City Gridiron
Why should the Chicago Bears go offensive line at 10? I’ll tell you why!
This is the first article in a four-part miniseries about what the Chicago Bears should do with the 10th pick of the draft. We will examine four different position groups and explain why drafting that position is the right move for the Bears.
We start with the offensive line.
Of course, the Chicago Bears need to draft an offensive lineman, specifically a left tackle. The Bears have done a great job putting some quick fixes on the interior of the offensive line with Drew Dalman, Joe Thuney, and Jonah Jackson, and of course, they have Darnell Wright on the right side as well.
When you look at the line, you look at those four individuals and know that Braxton Jones is a solid starter at left tackle, and you would say to yourself, that’s a solid line for 2025, the Bears need to focus their attention elsewhere at 10.
Right? Wrong.
You need to zoom out.
First of all, let’s look at Ben Johnson. In what should be a delight for all Bears fans, Johnson loves blocking. Beyond that, he demands blocking. Everyone on that offense, if the ball isn’t in their hands and they aren’t running a route, should be putting a body on a defender.
It’s a basic rule of football, you know, hit the other guy, but it’s one that a lot of teams don’t focus on. It’s like basketball teams that don’t practice free throws. It’s ridiculous.
If the Bears are going to focus on becoming an elite blocking team, and I believe they are going to do just that, having a solid five up front on the line isn’t enough; you need to create a unit that’s deep and constantly has young talent developing behind the starters.
Beyond just what you need on the field, you have to look at roster construction as well. We all agree Darnell Wright needs an extension, right? At a minimum, Wright is going to need 4/$100 from the Bears for an extension. When you combine that with the free agents they just signed across the interior, they need offensive linemen on rookie contracts.
When you look at line construction across the league, most teams have at least two players on rookie deals starting on their lines, some teams have more than that. You’ll find some teams push 4 starting linemen with big salaries. You’ll never find five.
Braxton Jones is a free agent at the end of this year. The Bears are in no position to re-sign him. I think they’ve made it pretty clear in their actions that they don’t plan to do this anyway, but with guys like Dan Moore getting north of $20 million per season, there’s no reason to think Jones can’t get that as well.
In a couple of years, that would mean the Bears would have a line that would cost them roughly $20 million, $16 million, $14 million,...
