So Pace rebuilt the offensive line

[modo]

Ill let you know when I see them play. That is the only way to be sure at this point.

 

[jive]

I honestly have to wonder, how many 5tyh 6th and seven round picks from Leno's draft is still in the NFL besides, well Leno XD?

Ricardo Allen, Corey Linsley, AJ McCarron, Devon Kennard, Pat O'Donnel, Zach Fulton, Matt Pradis, Shemar Steven, and TJ Carrie. Out of more than 100 picks in the late rounds of 2014, that's all that's left besides Leno.

 

[Tillman33]

Everything you just said is wrong congrats you know nothing.

Everything I said is wrong huh? Got a link for the first round OL he took the last 7 years? Given that was my main/closing point, you must know something the rest of us don’t. I must have been Hibernating that season??

 

[HearshotKDS]

We'll know when we see them actually play. I'm very optimistic but an awful lot of chickens being counted here when nothing hatched yet.

 

[Tillman33]

You just named teams with good starting OLs.

Chiefs depth hasn't played together yet. They literally lost the SB because they didn't have good enough OL depth. Probably the deepest OL in the league now because it killed them 3 months ago.

Patriots are the opposite and lost their depth in free agency. Their backups are Ted Karras and some no-name 6th and 7th rounders

Packers depth is because they just spent 3 draft picks on OL. They could have depth, but not proven yet.

Colts depth is Julie'n Davenport and Sam Tevi, both of whom were very bad starting OTs, and 1 of them may start until Eric Fisher gets healthy

Browns signed Chris Hubbard and drafted James Hudson in the 4th. Solid, not spectacular depth assuming Hudson can play

The Raiders and Bills among many other teams also have strong offensive lines. It’s not hard to do if you have a GM that prioritizes it. No other organization would keep a guy like Castillo around, or not draft or pay any significant capital for OL. No other organization would let Alex Bars outside the Kids section.

 

[Chicago Staleys]

When Pace identifies a problem he usually attacks it with redundancy, i.e. 2019 kickers 2020 Tight Ends 2021 Oline

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

You just named teams with good starting OLs.

Chiefs depth hasn't played together yet. They literally lost the SB because they didn't have good enough OL depth. Probably the deepest OL in the league now because it killed them 3 months ago.

Patriots are the opposite and lost their depth in free agency. Their backups are Ted Karras and some no-name 6th and 7th rounders

Packers depth is because they just spent 3 draft picks on OL. They could have depth, but not proven yet.

Colts depth is Julie'n Davenport and Sam Tevi, both of whom were very bad starting OTs, and 1 of them may start until Eric Fisher gets healthy

Browns signed Chris Hubbard and drafted James Hudson in the 4th. Solid, not spectacular depth assuming Hudson can play

The Chiefs lost the super bowl because they lost both of their starting tackles right before the SB and lost their starting LG in week 5 and STILL made the super bowl but go on and tell me about how they're not deep... and you know, the Bucs defense is pretty good.

 

[discplayer]

He kicked the can down the road by using a 2nd and 5th to address the OL? Explain how that analysis makes sense.

He kicked the cam down the road for years, as in past tense. He finally HAD to use higher picks on OT because he hasn’t ever prior to this year. His prior “high” OL picks were Whitehair, an OG, and Daniels, a C.

 

[rawdawg]

The Chiefs lost the super bowl because they lost both of their starting tackles right before the SB and lost their starting LG in week 5 and STILL made the super bowl but go on and tell me about how they're not deep... and you know, the Bucs defense is pretty good.

Wait. Wouldn't going from a really good OL to playing 3 replacements and getting destroyed the definition of not having depth? If the replacements were good depth, they wouldn't have suffered from a monumental fall off from starters to depth.

 

[greg23]

I know we all want to think this problem ua solved but the reality is:

Zero of 12 lineman on the roster have started a NFL game at LT

The guy penciled in at LT is a rookie who was pegged by most everybody as a RT (maybe guard)

We have one of 12 lineman who looked ok at center....and he's a 2nd year udfa...the backups to him have proven to be better as guards and a disaster as centers

I think we'll be fine but there are definitely some big question marks on the oline.

 

[jive]

Pace has his shortcomings, but he's much better than the last 2 GMs in terms of building an offensive line.
Jerry couldn't draft an offensive lineman to save his life. Sure, he invested more first round draft picks towards the offensive line than Pace, but every single one of them busted. His mid and late round picks busted as well. He absolutely sucked at drafting an offensive line, with his "greatest hits" being Terrence Metcalf, and J'Marcus Webb. He put together a decent line for the 2006 Super Bowl run, but 4/5 were free agents.
Emery was a little better in that he was able to draft a pro-bowl guard in Kyle Long and a starter in Charles Leno. Even though we had problems with the line, he only drafted 3 linemen with 2 of them being late round picks.

At least Pace is using some early round picks on OL. 3 of them are 2nd round picks, and one is former 1st rounder picked up in free agency. Cody Whitehair is playing at a high level, and the jury is out on the rest. Having a UDFA at center pan out would be a great surprise. One of the best centers in Bears history was a UDFA (Jay Hilgenberg). It was back in the day, so he went 12 rounds without getting drafted.

 

[Myk]

He kicked the cam down the road for years, as in past tense. He finally HAD to use higher picks on OT because he hasn’t ever prior to this year. His prior “high” OL picks were Whitehair, an OG, and Daniels, a C.

Since Daniels can't seem to play C I'd call that a fail of a pick, especially considering who we didn't get for the center who can't play the position.

 

[Spitta Andretti]

The Raiders and Bills among many other teams also have strong offensive lines. It’s not hard to do if you have a GM that prioritizes it. No other organization would keep a guy like Castillo around, or not draft or pay any significant capital for OL. No other organization would let Alex Bars outside the Kids section.

The Raiders lost like 3 starters on the line.

What.

And then Mayock reached for Underwood and got criticized for it

 

[Anytime23]

Pace has his shortcomings, but he's much better than the last 2 GMs in terms of building an offensive line.

If only Phil Emery got 7 drafts...Also, what was that OL in 05 and 06? Is this selective memory?

 

[Spitta Andretti]

Since Daniels can't seem to play C I'd call that a fail of a pick, especially considering who we didn't get for the center who can't play the position.

Daniels is not a failed pick

 

[remydat]

Daniels is not a failed pick

He actually hasn't been that good. He is young but mediocre to bad. Bears fans just overrate him because of the former.

 

[Spitta Andretti]

He actually hasn't been that good. He is young but mediocre to bad. Bears fans just overrate him because of the former.

In the middle of it all is James Daniels. The third-year lineman is paving the way in his return to the left guard spot. Daniels is Pro Football Focus’ 26th-highest-graded guard among 76 qualifiers. The eye test suggests a vast improvement over last year’s uneven showing when he split time between left guard and center. His pass-blocking could use some work, but Daniels’ 73.3 run-blocking grade ranks as the 16th best in the league.

A Beefed-Up James Daniels is Leading an Improved Bears Offensive Line - Bleacher Nation

All five of the Bears' offensive linemen rank in the top-third of their respective position groups!

www.bleachernation.com

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

Wait. Wouldn't going from a really good OL to playing 3 replacements and getting destroyed the definition of not having depth? If the replacements were good depth, they wouldn't have suffered from a monumental fall off from starters to depth.

Well the depth got them to Super Bowl, try and keep up

 

[NCChiFan]

To be fair to Ryan Pace, the Bears have actually drafted a lineman in all but 1 of his 7 drafts, and 10 total. Four of those years he drafted OL in the first 3 rounds. The one draft he didn't draft any OL, he only had 5 picks (none in the first 2 rounds), and managed to add Alex Bars and Sam Mustipher as UDFAs.

So, I don't think you can say Pace has ignored OL. I think the biggest issues have been depth and evaluating OL. Re-signing Massie was a bad idea. He probably stayed with Leno, Long, and Massie for too long and didn't do enough to challenge them for spots. He didn't do enough to get Whitehair at his best position. And keeping Coward on the roster for multiple seasons is indefensiveable.

It really isn't that Pace ignored the O line, it is that he ignored the tackle position on the O line, drafting Centers and Guards. And what worries me is that the two O lineman draft picks this year appear to be RT's not LT's...

 

[remydat]

In the middle of it all is James Daniels. The third-year lineman is paving the way in his return to the left guard spot. Daniels is Pro Football Focus’ 26th-highest-graded guard among 76 qualifiers. The eye test suggests a vast improvement over last year’s uneven showing when he split time between left guard and center. His pass-blocking could use some work, but Daniels’ 73.3 run-blocking grade ranks as the 16th best in the league.

A Beefed-Up James Daniels is Leading an Improved Bears Offensive Line - Bleacher Nation

All five of the Bears' offensive linemen rank in the top-third of their respective position groups!

www.bleachernation.com

He finished 34 out of 86 assuming 20% of snaps as your article is from Oct 4 before he got his ass kicked by the Bucs. Given there are 64 starters then really he is pretty much average. However, that is without playing a full schedule and missing a lot of the tougher opponents. What the above also doesn't tell you is that grade was only 65.8. Whitehair had the best grade at 75, Leno who was cut was 74.9 playing a much tougher position and against a full schedule. Massie who is cut was 72.6. Ifedi was 65.8.

So the reality is of the original starting 5, he and Ifedi were the 2 worse performers if you are going to use PFF. They were just significantly cheaper that Leno and Massie. So again Daniels isn't really all that good. He is an average to below average starter on the last year of his deal. He really needs to step it up as I would not pay him any kind of money unless he can prove he is significantly better than the other guys with more time left on their deals.