Chicago Bears: 5 Offensive linemen to watch for in Senior Bowl

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace loves to find small school prospects. While many other scouts look at the well-known players, Pace likes his staff to also look at players who aren’t known as much.

Pace has had mixed results with that philosophy. He picked running back Tarik Cohen out of North Carolina A&T in the fourth round of the 2017 draft. He’s been pretty effective in his three seasons in Chicago. Pace also selected tight end Adam Shaheen in the second round of that same draft. He came out of Ashland. That pick blew up in Pace’s face as he only had 26 catches for 249 yards and four touchdowns in his three seasons.

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You need to figure that Pace will continue his search for small school prospects. A good target is Alex Taylor out of South Carolina State.

Taylor is a huge man at 6-9, 308 pounds. He plays right tackle but he could move inside for guard and if things don’t work out for the tackles in the future he could take over at tackle. At worst, he can provide depth at tackle until the Bears decide to part ways with a tackle when it’s financially feasible to do so.

Normally when you see a lineman that big, you accept that there will be some athleticism lost. That isn’t the case with Taylor. He was a basketball player and only played football for fun, but he dominated on the field and the coaches wouldn’t let him leave the football field.

Taylor uses his basketball skills well. He has good bend at his knees and can get leverage very well and quickly. Once he gets that leverage he uses his strength to overpower his opponent. He has the movement with his feet to keep up with pass rushers. Taylor is a pleasure to watch in run blocking. When he gets low and latches on the defender he just obliterates whoever is in front of him. David Montgomery would love to have Taylor on his side.

While Taylor has focused on football solely for just four years, he is far more ahead in his development than expected. He is dominant but still has room to improve. He sometimes has trouble with delayed blitzes, for instance. With him learning more, the sky is the limit for him. It’ll be interesting to see how he performs against better competition this week.

The draft is deep with offensive linemen so Taylor should be available in the middle rounds. He could end up being a steal in the part of the draft that Pace has had a lot of success drafting.