The 2025 Offensive Tackle Market & why it might suck for the Bears

[Hoodey]

With the smoke finally cleared from the Detroit drubbing, there is 1 result of the game that I want to take a closer look at - how the Bears have to approach OT in the offseason. Many have already been pounding the table for an upgrade at LT, and it was probably close to unanimous that the team needed to replace their swing tackle (Borom) with a much better player, but having 2 healthy starters that were at least at the Mendoza line for acceptable play gave the team some flexibility with how they approached finding OT in the offseason. That may no longer be the case.

What the Bears currently have under contract for '25:

* Darnell Wright - 10th overall pick going into his 3rd season, you would be crazy not to assume he has the starting RT job

* Kiran Amegadjie - 3rd round project pick that should have been red-shirted if you draft him, but given the tape he has shown you cant pencil in as OT3 next season.

* Braxton Jones - This is ultimately the crux of my post. Jones is an agile OT who has so far had a bad anchor. While ideally the team could upgrade him, he at least provides a baseline of play at the position you could live with. He would have brought the flexibility to ease a rookie OT in, maybe a 2nd or 3rd round pick starts as OT3 but with a chance to win the job when Jones misses a few games (seems like a certainty) and we need the swingtackle to come in. But after his injury yesterday, that may no longer be the case. We'll know more going forward, but cant help but notice the pop and immediate buckle before the awkward fall on the damaged leg. Google says the speculated injury here has a 6-12 month recovery which means best case scenario Jones is probably missing camp and coming into the season with a lower body injury on a player who struggled with his anchor before the injury, and when was the last time a Bears player had an ideal return from serious injury? Hes probably dead, knowing the Bears luck.

Assuming Jones injury is worst case scenario, that means Bears need to find a day 1 starter at LT and a swing tackle to boot. So lets take a look at the likely places to get those:

FREE AGENCY

This is not a good year for OTs in Free Agency, I think there rarely are good years and '25 sure as shit aint one. Lets take a look at some that are available as of now - really important caveat.

* Ronnie Stanley - Easily the best of the bunch, BALs current starter. He has been a good pass protector for pretty much his entire career and has only given up 2 sacks and 4 QB hits in 520 pass snaps, and he also has a QB that likes to run around like an idiot (similar to what he might expect in Chicago). If he hits FA he's probably going to get $20-25M a year, but BAL is likely to do everything they can to keep him.

* Garrett Bolles - He has only given up 1 sack and 2 qb hits in 597 snaps, he would be another good starter option. Just kidding, DEN extended him to the tune of 4 years - $82M. Get cucked and fucked, other teams.

* Cam Robinson - He has given up 6 sacks and and 6 hits in 538 snaps, so statistically a big step down from the above 2. Salary projections so far are $18M+ for 3-4 years, woof.

* Morgan Moses - 34 year old RT, hasnt been the worst and he at least is currently starting.

* Jedrick Willis - 1st round pick in 2020 that has had 2 consecutive years with significant knee injuries and hasnt shown a high level of play when he was "healthy".

* Tyron Smith - 35 year old LT coming off what is likely a season ending neck injury.

Not a lot of good options for a team who needs a LT ready to start day 1. So what does the draft provide?

Tackle Prospects in the Draft

Here's a list of the OT prospects, I like Draft Buzz because they do the comparison of where players are ranked/rated on their peers sites as well (dont just take their word for it these guys miss a ton). This is very much a WIP, at the bare minimum you can expect significant shakeup after the combine and there's probably going to be movement before then as well.

Most sites ive read have Milum and Savaiinaea as Gs in the NFL, but given the Bears are likely to be picking high its likely they will have a shot at one of the top 2 OTs in the draft. Im no CFB expert and have no idea how these OTs look beyond the 2-3 games I see and what i read in pre-draft content, but it seems likely the 2nd OT would not be the best player available when the Bears draft (OT1 might be though). I'm a bit reluctant to write this into existence, but I'm getting a bit of a "time is a flat circle" vibe from this offseason where the Bears may have to pass on a super talented and disruptive DLineman to take the OT2 who ends up being OK/fine/not bad.

For CCS members who follow the college game more closely or know of vet options that im missing, what do you have to add to the conversation?

Did it suck when you could have had bo nox, olu Fashanu and then got the picks to still draft an odunze type and two other weapons?

 

[bamainatlanta]

Did it suck when you could have had bo nox, olu Fashanu and then got the picks to still draft an odunze type and two other weapons?

Olu has been awful his year. Nix is still statistically at Caleb’s level and the Denver offense is also nearly statistically the same as last year’s Denver team. Good post tho lol.

 

[Hoodey]

Olu has been awful his year. Nix is still statistically at Caleb’s level and the Denver offense is also nearly statistically the same as last year’s Denver team. Good post tho lol

His coach had this to say

“I absolutely believe that Olu is the left tackle for the New York Jets for a long, long time,” Ulbrich said. “He has demonstrated that. For a rookie to come in and play as he has, it’s astounding. You don’t see it very often — not just at the left tackle spot. He showed the ability to [be] reverse versatile across the board at the guard spot, right tackle spot, etcetera, so I’m excited about his future.”

He got hurt, but long term he’d have been an upgrade over most bears OL. We can revisit

 

[bamainatlanta]

His coach had this to say

“I absolutely believe that Olu is the left tackle for the New York Jets for a long, long time,” Ulbrich said. “He has demonstrated that. For a rookie to come in and play as he has, it’s astounding. You don’t see it very often — not just at the left tackle spot. He showed the ability to [be] reverse versatile across the board at the guard spot, right tackle spot, etcetera, so I’m excited about his future.”

He got hurt, but long term he’d have been an upgrade over most bears OL. We can revisit

The GM got fired. The HC got fired. The interim HC is going to get fired. Jets board has already reluctantly realized that he isn’t going to be good.

 

[Hoodey]

The GM got fired. The HC got fired. The interim HC is going to get fired. Jets board has already reluctantly realized that he isn’t going to be good.

lol so that doesn’t have to do with the fact that the jets were a train wreck waiting to happen before Fashanu got there? Did the jets fans all brag about unprecedented situations and how the team would be great?

 

[bamainatlanta]

lol so that doesn’t have to do with the fact that the jets were a train wreck waiting to happen before Fashanu got there? Did the jets fans all brag about unprecedented situations and how the team would be great?

No they have realized he is bad. The end.

 

[bearsfan1977]

Mekhi Becton is a FA and is actually having an ok year at G. Maybe he’ll be in play if he hits FA.

 

[Hoodey]

No they have realized he is bad. The end.

That’s why they fired everyone?

You know who is bad? Old boy who had 3 points and a little over 100 yards passing tonight on 5 yards per attempt. Craig Krenzel thinks it’s stinky

 

[Runruffshod75]

Anyone know the Bears draft status after tonight's shitstorm?

 

[bamainatlanta]

That’s why they fired everyone?

You know who is bad? Old boy who had 3 points and a little over 100 yards passing tonight on 5 yards per attempt. Craig Krenzel thinks it’s stinky

That’s great. I’m not defending Caleb here.

 

[Hoodey]

That’s great. I’m not defending Caleb here.

You want to

 

[bamainatlanta]

You want to

lol no I don’t.

 

[Runruffshod75]

I'm trading down, not up. Abdul is going to go before the Bears pick. The only other defensive player I would be interested in is Graham, but its also dependent on what defensive scheme their next coach wants. I'm not going to spend another high round pick on a rb, when we have swift already with Roschon Johnson. I was pounding the table for saquon, but we are where we are

Neither Swift or Roshon are the answer to anything. Roschon is the modern version of our Adrian Peterson. He's OK in a pinch or the occasional spot start but now nowhere near the answer to the Bears need for a true dual threat bell cow HB.

Look at Detroits offense since the fanboys claimed they "reached" for Gibbs. They went from very good to noticeably great. Tjat offense runs through a dual threat HB just like Gibbs. Gibbs is a fucking beast and our offense and our young QB needs the same

Swift ain't shit. He's a scat back who can't run inside, and because of that defenders sell.out to the perimeters too. He's a fine complimentary HB but nowhere near the guy.

This team needs a HB in round 2 or 3 at the latest and like it or not they'll probably pick one as they should, especially if Ben Johnson does take the job.

 

[monkforasia]

Neither Swift or Roshon are the answer to anything. Roschon is the modern version of our Adrian Peterson. He's OK in a pinch or the occasional spot start but now nowhere near the answer to the Bears need for a true dual threat bell cow HB.

Look at Detroits offense since the fanboys claimed they "reached" for Gibbs. They went from very good to noticeably great. Tjat offense runs through a dual threat HB just like Gibbs. Gibbs is a fucking beast and our offense and our young QB needs the same

Swift ain't shit. He's a scat back who can't run inside, and because of that defenders sell.out to the perimeters too. He's a fine complimentary HB but nowhere near the guy.

This team needs a HB in round 2 or 3 at the latest and like it or not they'll probably pick one as they should, especially if Ben Johnson does take the job.

I'm not taking a rb before the 3rd round. If someone like Kaleb falls, i'll take him. There are other priorities that need to be addressed.

 

[UChiLAbear]

I'm not taking a rb before the 3rd round. If someone like Kaleb falls, i'll take him. There are other priorities that need to be addressed.

I agree with most of this...but...lol.....RoJo is very good in short yardage situations....every team needs a player like that.

 

[DanielCCSBears]

I agree with most of this...but...lol.....RoJo is very good in short yardage situations....every team needs a player like that.

If you get the offensive line up to speed you don't need a specialty back.

The Bears need to go all out and take big early swings on the OL. They need to stop looking for starters in rounds 3-5 and backups from rounds 6 7 and the UDFA market.