If you follow NFL training camps for long enough, one truth becomes evident: you absolutely cannot judge the offensive or defensive lines until the pads come on late in July.
The Chicago Bears had their first two padded practices on Friday and Saturday, and Bears fans probably did not like what they saw. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was under constant duress, with multiple defenders flooding the backfield almost immediately. Obviously, he's not taking any hits in training camp (except for a couple of bumps from Montez Sweat), but it's still not a good sign.
Many Bears fans are already wondering if the offensive line will once again be a massive liability.
Did Ryan Poles do enough to improve the offensive line?
GM Ryan Poles is already under some fire for overvaluing the current talent along the offensive line. I don't think that's an entirely fair assessment. Sure, it would be nice to have a top-five offensive line, but that takes years to build, even in the best of conditions.
Poles has not had that luxury. He came to a team that needed to be torn down, which he set to work doing immediately. He has had just two offseasons since then to begin the building-up phase and has done a decent job, spending his first first-round pick on Darnell Wright and finding Braxton Jones in the fifth, both of whom appear to be franchise tackles.
The best offensive tackle duos in the NFL 💪 pic.twitter.com/nP3tsX29Js
— PFF (@PFF) May 29, 2024
His free agency signings along the offensive line have been mostly a disaster; that much is true. In Poles' defense, however, many of the 'big name' offensive line free agents in recent years have gone on to have very underwhelming tenures with their new teams. It's hard to blame Poles for being reluctant to make huge commitments to these players when every year he sees these deals not work out well for anyone.
Should Poles target free agent Connor Williams to be the answer at center? It'd be a risky move. As good as he was for the Dolphins, Williams is a big man who suffered a devastating ACL injury just eight months ago. He may not be ready for the start of the season and may not be the same player.
It's too early to panic.
The Chicago Bears have just had one week of training camp. It's still early, and the offense is installing a new offense with many new faces. It shouldn't be surprising that they are struggling against a defense that finished the season on a tear and is comfortable in their system.
I'm not telling you that this offensive line will be great or even pretty good because I don't think they will be. But I believe the unit will be fine, ending up somewhere in the 15-18 range in rankings. Obviously, you want to see that improve, but that should be good enough for now, especially considering how many weapons the Bears have.
