Windy City Gridiron
The Bears revamped their interior offensive line starters, but who plays behind them?
This next training camp battle is probably one of the most important ones for the Chicago Bears' 2025 season, and it’s getting very little attention from fans and the media.
We all know that Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles went out and revamped the interior of the Chicago Bears' offensive line. They traded for guard Joe Thuney, they traded for guard Jonah Jackson, and they went out and signed center Drew Dalman.
The Bears' starting offensive line is vastly improved, but their depth is not, and their depth is what saved the team last season.
Last season, keep in mind that the starting interior was set to be Teven Jenkins, Ryan Bates, and Nate Davis. The depth behind those guys was Matt Pryor, Bill Murray, and Coleman Shelton. Both Pryor and Shelton became decent starters for the team while Murray filled in and played nicely before he was injured as well.
This season, the Bears have plenty of quality across the starting interior, far better than what it was last season, but behind them, there are serious question marks.
Let’s first look at roster construction. Most teams keep 9 offensive linemen on the 53-man roster; 8 is usually a little slim, and 10 is usually quite excessive.
Let’s enter this conversation with the expectation that the Bears, too, will go with 9 linemen. Let’s also assume that Braxton Jones, Ozzy Trapilo, and Kiran Amedgadjie all make the 53-man roster. That leaves two remaining spots on the 53-man roster. Let’s look at the contenders.
The Bears have six players vying for the two spots. Ricky Stromberg, whom they picked up last season and placed on the practice squad. They have Jordan McFadden, who they claimed off waivers from the LA Chargers. We all know Doug Kramer well. We know they have their rookie from Michigan State, Luke Newman. They have fan favorite Bill Murray. And let’s not forget Ryan Bates as well.
Let’s start with Bates, who has zero guaranteed money left on his deal and continues to struggle to not only stay healthy, but get healthy. Bates has explored options all offseason on how to help his chronic injury issues and wasn’t able to participate in OTAs or training camp. You have to start to wonder if Bates can be relied on at all, and if this injury pushes him to the waiver wire.
If Bates isn’t able to make the 53, the Bears need a backup center. Of the players that can do that, we have Stromberg, we have Kramer, and the Bears could work Newman at center and see how he performs there.
Stromberg is just 24 and was a 3rd round pick in 2023 by the Washington Commanders, but after suffering a knee injury in November of his rookie season, the Commanders waived him in August of 2024 before the season began.
The question with Stromberg is, who is he on the other side...
