Chicago Bears: 3 offensive tackles to sign with injury problems mounting

Training camp has not been kind to the Chicago Bears thus far.

The Bears came into this year’s camp with plenty of new faces, and some of the most significant battles would feature them. It starts up front on the offensive line, where the Bears came into training camp without their two starting tackles from last year.

After letting go of Charles Leno and Bobby Massie, the Bears put together a completely new plan of attack at tackle. They drafted rookie Teven Jenkins in the second round, along with Larry Borom in the fifth round.

A pair of rookie tackles joined Germain Ifedi, Elijah Wilkinson and Lachavious Simmons as the top five tackles on the roster. However, all five of them are currently not participating for one reason or another.

The most concerning of all five is definitely Jenkins, who has yet to participate in training camp with a back injury. As time goes on, we are starting to get more leery about Jenkins’ status and ultimately his availability for Week 1 could be up in the air.

One healthy lineman has shown his versatility and could end up playing either tackle or guard, and that’s former undrafted Notre Dame lineman Alex Bars. However, the Bears may need more help than just Bars.

Chicago did sign undrafted guard Gage Cervenka, formerly of Clemson. Cervenka is more of an interior lineman, though, and the Bears’ issues at tackle remain the largest concern at the moment.

If Chicago wanted to address those issues by bringing in another free agent, there are some veterans available. A few, in particular, would be the best fits right now and could even push for starting time next to Jenkins — or in place of him, should his injury continue to linger.