Chicago Bears Training Camp: Previewing the offensive line
Chicago Bears Offensive Tackles
The Chicago Bears’ tackles were a very bad eyesore in 2019. Charles Leno Jr. was strong in 2018, making a Pro Bowl appearance. Additionally, he didn’t commit any penalties. All that changed in 2019. there was no Pro Bowl, and he committed an amazing 12 penalties (not counting those that were declined).
Some of those penalties committed hurt drives. Instead of marching to the end zone, key drives broke down and the offense had to punt the ball away.
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This is a key season for Leno. He needs to play well. The Bears could cut him in 2021 and save themselves $9 million. That’s a big number for a team looking to find some salary cap relief to improve the roster. That’s especially true when no one is sure how much the salary cap will be in 2021. Without the revenue from paying fans, there could be a reduction in salary cap so the Bears could use that $9 million.
Bobby Massie went down with an injury last season. He also had a good 2018 season, allowing only two quarterback pressures and committing just two penalties. He appears to be healthy again so hopefully, he gets back to his 2018 form.
Massie is in a similar position as Leno. After the season, the Bears could cut him and save $8 million in salary cap space. So what backup plans to the Bears have to replace these linemen?
The Bears signed former Green Bay Packers lineman Jason Spriggs. Rumor has it that Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace coveted Spriggs. The Packers wanted to keep him away from Chicago so they drafted him one spot ahead of the Bears. Chicago then moved down and drafted Cody Whitehair.
That rumor might have legs when you look at how little the Packers used Spriggs during his time there. He never played in more than 27 percent of the offensive snaps with the Packers.
It might appear Spriggs won’t be playing in a higher number of snaps in Chicago since he’ll be a backup. He could be a starter in waiting, however. If one of the starters struggle, Spriggs is ready to step up and start. The Bears could then end up with both of the offensive linemen they liked back in 2017.