Anybody with half a brain knows what the Chicago Bears will do in the upcoming 2025 off-season. After four games of this season, it is beyond apparent that their offensive line needs a serious overhaul. It has allowed 16 sacks on Caleb Williams. Most of the headaches come from the interior, where Coleman Shelton and Teven Jenkins continue to struggle while Nate Davis is already benched. The former two will be free agents next spring. Davis is almost sure to get cut. This isn’t even accounting for Braxton Jones, who has been inconsistent at left tackle to start the year.
Replacing three spots on the offensive line in one off-season will be a significant challenge. The Bears do have three picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft. They could use all of them on that group. However, starting three rookies up front doesn’t seem practical. That is why there is a reasonable chance GM Ryan Poles will go hunting for a proven veteran in free agency. Scouts told Bleacher Report they believe one name stands out above the rest.
G Zack Martin, Dallas Cowboys
On a related note, Chicago’s interior offensive line issues aren’t going away anytime soon and could get worse in the offseason seeing as Shelton, Pryor and Teven Jenkins are impending free agents. Also, Davis could be a salary-cap casualty since cutting him would save the club $9.5 million, per Over The Cap.
Don’t be surprised if Ryan Poles goes after one of the best guards on the open market in Martin. The future Hall of Famer might not have a long tenure in the Windy City, but he could help protect Caleb Williams and fill one of the team’s biggest needs.
Caleb Williams would benefit from Martin’s presence.
The nine-time Pro Bowl guard has been a model of consistency during his long tenure with the Dallas Cowboys. Only three times has he allowed more than 20 pressures on the quarterback across his last ten seasons. He has allowed only seven pressures in 173 snaps so far this season. The biggest issue most people will raise with him is his age. Martin turns 34 in November. It is always hard to tell how many great seasons a player has left once he gets to his 30s. Some remain elite to the very end, such as Andrew Whitworth or Bruce Matthews. Others fade away, like Russ Grimm and Tony Boselli. Health is crucial.
The good news is that the Bears have had some good luck gambling on older elite guards. Ruben Brown was 32 when he joined them in 2004. He made a Pro Bowl and helped them reach the Super Bowl in 2006. Though the team was bad, Josh Sitton, who was 30, was an excellent addition in 2016. If Martin is healthy, he would be a perfect short-term solution to the team’s right guard problem. It would allow Poles to focus his draft resources at left guard and center. Caleb Williams would be in far better shape under those conditions.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Dr. Melhus, 100% agree with you on how Poles appears to be spreading out the talent per position. On another point that includes both the recouping a pick for Allen and not wanting to give up much draft capitol for Martin… Why not see if we could swap Allen for Martin?? Maybe throw in a LATE pick? He’d be a much better compliment to Cee Dee Lamb than anybody else on the Cowboys. I’m confident the bears looked at Allen as a stopgap anyway as they really didn’t expect to have a shot at Odunze. Plus, I’d bet anything that… Read more »
The danger with thinking about Allen in terms of compensatory picks is that the formula, as I understand it, is based on a net loss of free agents. So if Allen signs elsewhere after the year, but the Bears make a bigger FA signing, they get nothing for him.
I agree with TGena about Zach Martin. He would be a great mentor to any young linemen, like Wright, Brax, Kiran, even Kramer, and the inevitable OL players we draft next year. The Bears have four more years of Caleb on a rookie contract, and can afford to spend a little on what looks like the weakest group on the team right now. I’d be hesitant to trade much in draft capitol for him – maybe they could use Herbert and/or Velus, …. I also think that the way Poles wants to build the team is to have different stage… Read more »
For once, I agree with @TGena on this one! If you have the chance to sign Zack Martin, you do it! Who cares if he is 35? You would likely only sign him to a 2-3 year front-loaded deal. The experience and stability he would bring to the line would help influence and mold the other guys lined up next to him, especially if we had to go with a rookie center. Just think, Connor Williams was right there for the taking, and we just watched him while the Seahawks took him for peanuts. Why? Because we were already committed… Read more »
@jmscooby — That depends, Scoob. NFL Football Operations puts it this way: “COMPENSATORY PICKS Under the terms of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, the league also can assign as many as 32 additional ‘compensatory free agent’ picks, which allow clubs that have lost free agents to another team to use the draft to try to fill the void. The awarded picks take place at the end of the third through seventh round. Compensatory free agents are determined by a proprietary formula, developed by the NFL Management Council, which considers a player’s salary, playing time and postseason honors. The value of… Read more »