Bears Hope Competition Goes a Long Way
Before the Bears do something expensive, rash or wise—depending upon your viewpoint—and look to sign an available free agent tackle like Eric Fisher, they want to exhaust their options.
Doing it means getting a gauge on all the talent on hand, and it's not easy at minicamps and in organized team activities when players were no pads.
Coaches think they can get a feel for whether the line can pull together as a unit despite the lack of actual hitting. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy at rookie minicamp had the hopes execution trumps individual talent or experience. For now, he must feel that way
"Hopefully, when you watch us it's 11 as one and we're firing off the football better than everybody else in this league and we're finishing better than everybody else in this league," Getsy said. "Those are the things we're talking about every single day. We're taking care of the football, getting off the rock and we're finishing better than everybody else in this league.
"That's our mentality. That's our purpose. If we can do that we've got a chance."
It might be the only way they have a chance, if raw talent or experience are used as a way to determine whether they have a chance to keep Justin Fields upright and open holes in the wide zone blocking scheme for David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert.
The Bears are extremely short on experience and draft pedigree with this line. The team approach will need to go a long way.
They had 15 offensive linemen under contract when the rookie minicamp ended and ...
- 13 were Day 3 draft picks or undrafted.
- The two who weren't, Cody Whitehair and Teven Jenkins, were second-round picks.
- Only five of the 15 started more than 10 games in their careers and seven haven't started any games.
- Only Whitehair and Lucas Patrick have started for a full season more than once.
The green hue to the line probably was typified best by the comment from rookie guard/tackle Zachary Thomas better than anyone else.
"I mean yeah, the real vets aren't even here yet, but I've already felt the notch turn up a couple," Thomas said after rookie minicamp ended. "I can already imagine what it's going to be in a week when I get back. It'll probably turn up a couple more."
"A couple?" Actually, it will probably be turned up 10-fold because the most experienced defensive lineman Thomas and the rookies went against over the weekend was Charles Snowden, a practice squad player from a year ago who is trying to convert from 3-4 outside linebacker to 4-3 defensive end.
Competition will apparently need to breed the improvement necessary to help Fields.
"I mean, it should be extremely competitive," Getsy said. "That's at every position. That's what we're in here doing every single day, is, giving guys an opportunity to compete.
"There's no jobs that are locked up right now. When you get the pads on, that's when real ball starts. Everything will be evaluated about that, right? The way they get off the football, the way they execute, their mentality, their finish—all that stuff is going to get evaluated. I'm excited to see that."
Getsy pointed out they have more than a month of organized team activity work and a mandatory mincamp to come before they need to be ready for training camp.
Considering the lack of experience and draft pedigree from this offensive line group, they'll need every second of that preparation time as well as a cell phone to call the agent of Fisher or some other veteran free agent offensive lineman.
Unproven Bears Offensive Line
| Player | Experience | Total NFL Starts | Draft Status | School |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Larry Borom | 2nd Year | 8 | 5th Round | Missouri |
Ja'Tyre Carter | Rookie | 0 | 7th Round | Southern |
Julien Davenport | 6th Year | 32 | 4th Round | Bucknell |
Jean Delance | Rookie | 0 | UDFA | Florida |
Dakota Dozier | 8th Year | 27 | 4th Round | Furman |
Dieter Eiselen | 1st Year | 0 | UDFA | Yale |
Teven Jenkins | 2nd Year | 2 | 2nd Round | Oklahoma St. |
Braxton Jones | Rookie | 0 | 5th Round | S. Utah St. |
Doug Kramer | Rookie | 0 | 6th Round | Illinois |
Sam Mustipher | 3rd Year | 24 | UDFA | Notre Dame |
Lucas Patrick | 6th Year | 34 | UDFA | Duke |
Lachavious Simmons | 3rd Year | 1 | 7th Round | Tennessee St. |
Zachary Thomas | Rookie | 0 | 6th Round | San Diego St. |
Cody Whitehair | 7th Year | 95 | 2nd Round | Kansas St. |
Willie Wright | 1st Year | 0 | UDFA | Tulsa |
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
