It took him a year or two longer than most Chicago Bears fans would have preferred, but in 2025, GM Ryan Poles finally made some serious investments into his offensive line by trading for guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney and signing center Drew Dalman. This revamping of the O-line, along with sealing the deal to bring head coach Ben Johnson into the fold, is probably what got Poles his recent contract extension.
These moves along the O-line have received high praise from NFL analysts across the board. Pro Football Focus, in their yearly ranking of NFL teams by position group, even went so far as to rank Chicago's O-line as 4th best in the league. Some fans may argue that this is a little high, but if PFF is off the mark, then it's not by much because Chicago's starting five looks really good on paper.
Therein lies a potential problem for the Bears in 2025. The starters on the O-line should all be above-average at worst, but if and when one of them goes down with an injury, does Chicago have the depth to plug in a replacement without seeing a drastic plunge in production?
Since starting and finishing every game as a rookie, Braxton Jones has missed 11 of 34 games. Joe Thuney has been an iron man in his NFL career, but he's set to turn 33 years old in November. Jonah Jackson appeared in just four games in his only year with the Rams last year before a season-ending injury. Any way you slice it, three of the Bears' starters on the O-line have either an injury history or are nearing the twilight of their careers.
2024 starters should be far more comfortable as 2025 backups
Luckily for Caleb Williams, a few of the guys who were pegged to be starters in 2024 have been pushed into backup roles with these new arrivals for 2025, which is where they can truly shine. Ryan Bates, for example, was an examplary swing guard and backup center for the Buffalo Bills before Poles traded for him. He didn't play nearly well enough to earn a starting role, but in a pinch he can keep Chicago's offense moving.
The Bears have also seen high-quality snaps from guard Bill Murray. In 2024, he actually posted an elite PFF grade of 82.4 in his limited role as a backup. Obviously, his 42 snaps are an extremely small sample size, but it goes to show that when his number was called, Murray can step up and knock it out of the park.
What about the tackles? The Bears are also in luck here. Rookie Ozzy Trapilo has been receiving some rave reviews so far in OTAs and minicamps; some even expect him to win the starting left tackle spot outright over Braxton Jones at some point this season. There's also Kiran Amegadjie, who, despite immense struggles in 2024, still has sky-high potential. But even if he can only ever be a swing tackle for the Bears, that's tremendous value for a third-round draft pick.
So there you have it. They're not exactly household names, but the Bears do, in fact, have quality depth along the offensive line. Unless multiple starters go down for long stretches in the 2025 season, Bears fans shouldn't have to worry about watching Caleb Williams run for his life this year.
