Arkush: Bears are in a potential world of hurt if they don't get offensive line in order
When the Bears ended veteran minicamp June 17 it appeared Teven Jenkins was well on his way to being a Day 1 rookie starter at left tackle.
Before leaving Halas Hall for the six-week break, Jenkins even told us he was excited to get back out on the field and put the pads on.
Then, on the first day of camp, head coach Matt Nagy, when asked where he was at evaluating Jenkins, threw these questions in as part of his answer:
“Physically where are you at health-wise?” Nagy said. “Can you take care of your body? Are you invested in your body? Because it's a very valuable position.”
With the excitement almost as great over his arrival as first-round pick Justin Fields. we assumed Jenkins was good to go.
But the next morning before practice, Nagy told us Jenkins was experiencing “some back tightness” and referred to Jenkins as “day-to-day.”
A week later Nagy reported no change, and added, “I would say it's trending in the right direction, which is good.”
A few days later Nagy stopped even mentioning Jenkins was still out. It was just understood.
On Saturday, news broke the team had signed 39-year-old veteran left tackle Jason Peters. Nagy immediately dismissed the notion that Peters' signing was related to Jenkins' injury.
“It really doesn't have anything to do with Teven, but it's about familiarity with a guy that's played in this league for a long time, and he's very good,” Nagy said. “If that's going to provide more competition and somebody that played last year and did well when you watched the tape, we like that.”
Then came Wednesday morning, where Nagy began his daily presser by announcing Jenkins would undergo back surgery Wednesday.
“You know we tried to hope to avoid the surgery with him,” Nagy said. “And we tried several treatments, but the goal is to get him back this season ...”
There is a part of the story we still don't know.
Based on where Jenkins was when he left in June, it appears something must have happened while he was away from the team.
And now the Bears have a big problem.
What they can get from Peters remains to be seen.
Elijah Wilkinson, signed during the offseason presumably to provide depth at right tackle and guard has been starting at left tackle, but in spite of some sugar coating from the boss on his performance, he clearly is not the answer.
Starting right tackle Germain Ifedi has yet to practice having spent the entire camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list. It's unclear whether his backup, 2020 seventh-rounder Lachavious Simmons, can even play in the NFL, let alone start.
Fifth-round rookie Larry Borom looked like he might be the best left-tackle hope in camp prior to going down 10 days ago with a concussion from which he has yet to return.
Clearly the team prioritized the position(s) drafting Jenkins and Borom, but knowing Charles Leno and Bobby Massie would have to go for performance, health and salary cap reasons, should they have done more that just sign Wilkinson during the offseason?
Upgrades like Riley Reiff and Morgan Moses were relatively inexpensive free agents.
Quality tackles like Mitchell Schwartz, who is now near full recovery from February back surgery, and Russell Okung are still available, but the Bears are cap strapped.
With the mission for the season being to develop the future of the franchise in Fields, but with currently no true NFL tackles even available to protect him — paired with the news that Fields missed his first practice Wednesday to protect a mild calf strain — the team finds itself in a mess no club would welcome just three weeks before opening day.
If Peters can find 17 more games of magic, and if Ifedi can get and stay healthy, things will get better, but how have all those ifs worked out for Bears tackles so far?
@Hub_Arkush