Lightening the Load

At the combine GM Ryan Poles says his new offensive linemen will begin the process of morphing their bodies to fit a new scheme.

It's been suspected since the hiring of Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator and the coming deployment of the Shanahan style of wide zone blocking, but the Bears are going to be moving more up front and the big guys are going to need to be a little less big.

Speaking at the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday, Poles said he wants the offensive line to look different and he doesn't just mean in terms of personnel. It's too soon to assign positions to linemen but the common theme is going to be guys who are in better shape.

"We're going to change it up a little bit just in terms of the style," Poles said. "So a lot of those guys, and the message has been pretty clear, we've got to change body types a little bit. We've got to ge lighter, we've got to get quicker.

"And through that I think there's some young talent that needs to be pressed and that's part of our job, to create competition and bringing the best oout of them."

The wide zone requires linemen to move in unison out of their stance with the "drop step" and move out to the side. The goal is to get some blockers to the second line of defense to give backs options as the scheme unfolds on a play.

Bears on the offensive line when the season ended averaged 326.8 pounds. Getsy came from a Packers offense that averaged almost 16 pounds less per blocker than the Bears. 

Cody Whitehair, at 316 pounds, and Lachavious Simmons at 319 were the only Bears linemen lighter than 320.

It might not be that hard for the linemen to get down to desired playing weight because some of them needed to put on extra weight to build up to where the old coaching staff wanted them. One example was free agent James Daniels, who added over 20 pounds.

It will make for an interesting start to team conditioning at Halas Hall on April 4.

Poles said the conditioning aspect will eventually become self-sustaining both with linemen and other positions.

"We're going to take body fat and weight really, really, really serious," Poles said. "And it's going to be held to a crertain standard because we know if we getguys to follow that and once they see that they're going to perform better they're going to play better for us as a team and they're going to be more successfu as an individual and eventually we hope then you take your hands off and the accountabilty becomes within the locker room. I think that's big with the players."

Poles, who was an offensive lineman, knows the drill well on the line and that is to get the best five available on the field and then decide best positions. For that reason, it was way too early for him to comment on whether Teven Jenkins figures in as a left tackle like last year or maybe right tackle or even guard.

"So I think we'll do that and we'll see how if the cream rises to the top; and especially with the O-line play, alot of times, and I don't want to speak for the coaches, but it's going to end up being the best five to roll out there," he said.

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