Anybody with common sense knows the Chicago Bears are gearing up for a major overhaul of the offensive line this off-season. GM Ryan Poles has neglected far too long. Outside of Darnell Wright, a legitimate case can be made that every other spot is replaceable. The first order of business is figuring out what to do with Teven Jenkins. He is such an enigma. The former 2nd round pick is an effective blocker. Easily the best of their interior trio. However, his track record of health issues hasn’t gone away since he was drafted.
Though Jenkins has only missed one game this season, he’s left several of them early with various issues. There is a chance he could miss Thursday night due to a persistent calf problem. Nobody questions his heart. Sadly, the Bears need somebody reliable. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune thinks they will reach the same conclusion.
The Bears cannot re-sign Jenkins and act like there’s any level of expectancy that he will all of a sudden have improved availability. I imagine the front office reached this conclusion a while back but as this season grinds to an end — who knows if we see Jenkins back on the field again — the reality is inescapable. He comes out of games too often.
He put it much more succinctly on 670 The Score.
“I don’t believe they will be inclined to attempt to re-sign Teven Jenkins.”
Teven Jenkins will be another in a long line of almosts for the Bears.
He always seemed like he was on the cusp of something special but never quite got there because of injury setbacks. This type of player characterized most of Ryan Pace’s selections from 2015 through 2021. Eddie Goldman, Leonard Floyd, Jordan Howard, Eddie Jackson, Tarik Cohen, Darnell Mooney, and Justin Fields also encountered similar fates. Something got in the way. Teven Jenkins is another in a long line of injury-prone offensive linemen they’ve drafted over the past two decades. The Bears seem to identify talent fine. It’s durability that has been their Achilles heel. That or just simple bad luck. Whatever the case, it appears left guard will be vacated this spring as the team aims to revamp. Perhaps the two sides may try to work out a short-term deal to maintain some stability.
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This is the part where I don’t agree with T.Gena: Coaches, teammates, and situations often get a few high energy players to play “above their weight”, which IMO leads to injuries if done too much in a short period of time. It has become accepted sports science, that rest, hydration, stretching, etc., are just as important as the exertion if you want to achieve any longevity in athletic performance. When I see Jenkins having to help the Center and then the OT do their jobs + do his own then I see Tev get hurt why am I not surprised?… Read more »
“Once you have a back surgery, your back is never the same.”
That’s the thing with Kiran’s knee, TGena. If he didn’t damage any of his collateral ligaments, he shouldn’t have to deal with too much instability. Like I said, you will see calf and groin strains. Braxton will go through similar with his recovery.
@jmscooby I was an offensive lineman and had lower back surgery one season in college. I do think back injuries linger on forever, at least based on my experience. For me, it was the disk between L4 and L5 that was the problem, and I did come back to play a couple more seasons, but it was never really the same. There was pain, which you can deal with, but there was also this instability that would be totally fine and then some weird twist or bend, things would shift and you’d basically collapse. Now, 30 or so years later… Read more »
@jmscooby —
You know as well as I that the instability in Kiran’s left leg will be a factor in his future injuries.
Add 318 lbs. to the equation and you have an early retirement from the NFL brewing.
Poles should have known better.
But Poles was being Poles.
Those injuries are never the same. What disc level(s)? How much neural tissue is compromised? Way too many variables. I had my biceps reattached last year. My dislocation injury looked way worse than Judon’s. Doesn’t mean I’m going to be rushing the passer.