Braxton Jones Might Not Be OL The Bears Are Looking To Replace

17.04.2024 03:07

SportsMockery.com

It pretty much goes one of two ways when discussing the Chicago Bears’ draft plans for the 1st round. It’s either quarterback at #1 and wide receiver at #9 or quarterback at #1 and pass rusher at #9 (or following a trade down). Yet there have been warning signs lately that the Bears might actually be eyeing something else with that second pick in the 1st round: the offensive line. It makes sense. A young quarterback is coming in. While adding more firepower is nice, protection seems more critical to his long-term success. Whenever discussions of this possibility come up, the same name is mentioned. That is left tackle Braxton Jones.

If the Bears intend to draft an offensive lineman, it would have to be a premier left tackle. However, people might be looking at this situation the wrong way. One thing GM Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus have said is their primary goal is to get the five best offensive linemen possible on the field together. If you look back at the starting lineup from 2023, Jones was not one of the weak links up front. One was center Lucas Patrick, who has already been replaced. The other was right guard Nate Davis.

Running Justin Fields should give the #Bears an advantage in the run game, but every time Fields keeps the ball the blocking in front of him turns to mush.

Nate Davis (#64) can't kick out Myles Garrett, meaning there's no rushing lane. Fields takes a free shot to the face. pic.twitter.com/1SoTl5bR84
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) December 18, 2023

Nate Davis did NOT have a good game. It turns out practicing might have a correlation with how well you play in the game.. #DaBears #Bears pic.twitter.com/5FQGNg8CU3
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) September 11, 2023

Davis didn’t get nearly the attention Braxton Jones did.

He should’ve. The Bears signed him to a strong free agent deal last year. What they got was a player who missed most of training camp with personal issues and then missed six games with various injuries. Worse still, he wasn’t anything special when he played. Across 384 pass-blocking snaps, he allowed 29 pressures on the quarterback. The guy was a liability way too often. While the Bears may be unable to do anything about his contract this year, that doesn’t mean they should feel obligated to let him play.

It might explain why there is a sudden surge of insiders mentioning offensive linemen as options they’re hearing for that second 1st rounder. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune had Troy Fautanu as the choice, a left tackle who many see as the best guard in the class. Peter Schrager of NFL Network has heard the same. He had the Bears taking big Alabama tackle JC Latham after a trade down from #9.

“Latham could be the second OT taken on draft night — some teams like him that much. If the board falls this way, Chicago adds a big, pedigreed bookend who can join last year’s first-round tackle, Darnell Wright, in protecting the new franchise quarterback, Caleb Williams.”

The idea with this scenario is the Bears either move Wright to left tackle or kick him inside to guard.

Lance Zierlein of NFL.com spoke to people around the league. They believe Latham might be the best overall tackle in the entire class.

“[This class is] deep at tackle and he’s going to end up being the best of the group. They are all going to get better, but he and (Joe) Alt are the only ones I see operating at a pro level and Latham is better than Alt.” – NFC personnel executive

Meanwhile, he stated last year that Wright’s future might be better served at guard, where his average length and footspeed wouldn’t be a big issue. Former GM Randy Mueller mentioned the same thing. He feels Wright would be an elite guard. He would undoubtedly be an upgrade over Davis and potentially give the Bears a devastating run-blocking tandem on the right side with Latham.

Which would look better?