Chicago Bears: A lot to consider with James Daniels extension talk

James Daniels still needs to work on his pass protection for the Chicago Bears.

As mentioned in the previous slide, Daniels’s lack of power rears its head in power run schemes. Unfortunately, it also shows itself in pass protection as well.

At 305 lbs, Daniels is rather light for an interior offensive lineman and that is apparent against power rushers. Bull rushes often give him fits because he doesn’t have the anchor to stalemate his opponent at first contact. There are too many times where he gets walked back into the quarterback’s lap and/or just does enough to hang on for dear life.

The former Hawkeye is still young at 23, so there is still hope that he can put on more size. However, his initial billing of being an undersized-athletic center could just be who he is. While overcoming his current physical limitations remains uncertain, there are a couple of technical issues he can fix to become a better pass protector.

The commonality of all of his most terrible losses is over-aggressiveness. He often wants to be the first one to initiate contact, which causes him to lunge or take false steps. Patience is key and if Daniels learns to be more patient and capitalize off of defenders showing their hand, it might lead to less ugly losses on his tape.