Chicago Bears: 5 free agent tackles to replace Charles Leno
By Ryan Heckman
Over the past few days, the Chicago Bears have taken some drastic steps to improve their roster going into the 2021 season.
It all started Thursday night when general manager Ryan Pace made the bold move to trade up and snag Justin Fields with the no. 11 overall pick in this year’s draft. He followed that up the next day by trading up again, only this time it was for one of the draft’s best offensive tackles, Teven Jenkins.
Later on, Pace drafted another tackle — Larry Borom out of Missouri. Fans began to sense that there was a big change happening up front. This was one which would certainly impact long-time starter Charles Leno.
Then, just two days after the 2021 NFL Draft concluded, the Bears made the announcement they would be moving on from Leno.
The Chicago Bears may already have a replacement for Charles Leno on the roster, but why risk it?
Jenkins now slots in as the likely left tackle, unless the Bears sign a sure fire left tackle via free agency. Aside from Jenkins, the Bears have the other rookie Borom, along with veterans Germain Ifedi and Elijah Wilkinson to compete for that right tackle spot.
One of those three might get the job done, but if the Bears seriously want to compete for something bigger than just a Wildcard exit this year, they could opt for one fo the remaining free agent tackles — and there are some good ones still available.
There are five particular tackles that make the most sense for the Bears, and some are far more expensive than the others. However, with the way Pace has this roster built now, the Bears could be special this year.
Obviously, in order for the Bears to be special, it’s going to be Fields under center and not Andy Dalton. That’s a debate for another day, but nobody really believes Matt Nagy when it comes to Dalton still locked in as the starter for Week 1. This draft proved it is all about Fields.
Chicago wants to protect Fields from the get-go, and when he ultimately takes the field, he could see one of these guys teaming up with Jenkins to keep his shirt clean.