Chicago Bears: 3 players most at risk under new GM

The Chicago Bears will be looking to overhaul their offensive line

Just before the 2017 season, Ryan Pace inked starting left tackle Charles Leno to a 4-year, $37 million extension ($21.5 million guaranteed). At the time, Leno was playing pretty well, exceeding expectations of his 7th round draft status.

However, since the extension, Leno’s play has seemingly declined each year. Frankly, the regression has been shocking considering he looked like an ascending player in 2017, and a very solid left tackle for the Bears.

It has become clear in 2020 that the Bears need to overhaul their offensive line, and that will likely start with addressing the most important position on it — left tackle.

Leno, who is owed just over $11 million next year would have an approximate $5 million dead cap hit. Whether the new general manager decides to part ways at that time will largely depend on two things — the market for left tackles in free agency and what they do to address the position in the draft. If they don’t get an adequate replacement through either, it would make sense to bring Leno back for the final year of his deal.

But the priority, especially since they are likely to draft a young quarterback, is to bring in a left tackle who can protect that young signal-caller for years to come.