Bears Shouldn’t Let Teven Jenkins Stroll (Or Limp) Out The Door

No particular person personifies the angst over the Bears’ offensive line increased than Teven Jenkins. His downside staying on the sector makes it straightforward to suppose Ryan Poles ought to simply let him stroll away as a free agent, considerably if the choice choice is giving him $10 million per you to hope he stays healthful.

Nonetheless possibly the Bears should discover a method to be ingenious and cling onto Jenkins for on the very least a yr or two, crossing their fingers he can keep on the sector subsequent season.

A approach or one completely different, rebuilding the offensive line defending Caleb Williams is the brief precedence for Poles and head coach Ben Johnson. The one really acknowledged amount is acceptable address Darnell Wright, given the left address Braxton Jones’ ongoing restoration from a damaged left ankle. The inside of the freeway, which was patched collectively in 2024, is anyone’s guess.

Jenkins, Wright and Jones have been the perfect objects of the freeway that Expert Soccer Focus ranked twenty fourth after being blamed for 37 of Williams’ 68 sacks. Jenkins was ranked thirteenth amongst 77 qualifying guards by PFF, making it three years in a row he’s been above the 14 finest in PFF grading.

When the Bears carried out the Saints in Week 9 of 2023, Jenkins turned in a 91.1 PFF rating, the perfect of the week by NFL linemen. He was nearly nearly almost pretty much as good in path of the Commanders in Week 8 final season, permitting no pressures (or sacks).

The issue with Jenkins is never the same old of his work; it’s the quantity. He carried out solely 37 of the Bears’ 60 offensive snaps in that Washington recreation and achieved the season having carried out 738 full snaps, which ranked fifty fifth amongst guards. He was 52nd in 2023 with 731 snaps.

Jenkins has had just one surgical course of with the Bears. Nonetheless that when extra surgical course of wrecked his rookie season and has led to his fame for being fragile. He’s missed 15 of 51 video video video games the last word three seasons with a wide range of seemingly unrelated accidents — a neck hurt in 2022, which triggered his to be stretched off the sector; a concussion in ’23, and rib, ankle and calf accidents in 24.

The Bears seemingly would have signed Jenkins to an unlimited contract extension by this diploma had he been additional healthful. He talked about at one diploma the edges have been anticipated to speak contract within the midst of the Week 7 bye nonetheless, throughout the event that they occurred, these talks went nowhere. The Bears have been centered on his quick availability, not the long run, after he left one October recreation with a rib hurt and one completely different with an ankle hurt.

It’s unlikely the Bears medical employees goes to endorse a big funding in Jenkins. Nonetheless given the problem of organising an offensive line, Poles and Johnson may need to ponder a restricted hazard on Jenkins. He may very correctly be a significant depth piece even when Poles lands three inside linemen by free agency and the draft.

Spotrac calls Jenkins’ market worth as $31 million over three years. Nonetheless he heads into free agency figuring out his hurt historic earlier will probably be as quite a lot of an issue to completely completely different groups as a result of it is to the Bears. Poles’ roster is in the mean time $65.9 million beneath the wage cap (fifth finest contained in the NFL) and that full will nearly positively develop to $75 million as rapidly as he releases numerous veterans (these candidates embody Gerald Everett and Ryan Bates).

Jenkins may very well actually really feel he has to look at the market. He’s earned the precise. Nonetheless he’s talked about he needs to remain in Chicago. Presumably there’s a method to work out a ingenious contract that retains him. Jenkins has been an asset, not a obligation.