Chicago Bears: 5 players who need to bounce back in 2021
By Ryan Heckman
Chicago Bears who need bounce back seasons in 2021: James Daniels
When James Daniels went down last year, the Bears’ offensive line was in a world of trouble. Between Daniels and Bobby Massie ultimately getting hurt, the line ended up getting shuffled around quite a bit and it took a while for the unit to figure it out.
The pass protection wore down immensely without Daniels, but most of all, the run game was almost non-existent. David Montgomery didn’t find his groove until later in the year when Chicago’s line finally gelled more as a group. It’s no coincidence either, because Daniels excels most in run blocking. Coming out of Iowa three years ago, he was the NCAA’s top run-blocking center.
Missing 11 games was a big deal for Daniels. He hadn’t been hurt like that in his previous two years and was coming off a full 16-game season in 2019.
Now that Chicago has Teven Jenkins locked in at left tackle, Cody Whitehair and (hopefully) Sam Mustipher locked in as starters, Daniels can come back into the fold and strengthen this line in a big way.