Bear Digest

Best Bears guard option a familiar one with Trey Smith out of the picture

Analysis: Keeping Teven Jenkins and signing one other guard in a double-team option can be the best path for the Chicago Bears after Trey Smith was tagged by Kansas City.
Gene Chamberlain|
With Trey Smith out of the picture, the Bears' options at guard look best as a double-team block: Teven Jenkins and Kevin Zeitler.
With Trey Smith out of the picture, the Bears' options at guard look best as a double-team block: Teven Jenkins and Kevin Zeitler. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

It would be presumptuous to say the Bears' 2025 free agency plan went down the drain with the tagging by Kansas City of guard Trey Smith.

For one, the Bears haven't actually said they were going to target Smith and it hasn't been reported by anyone citing sources, only rumored and speculated. However, if GM Ryan Poles wasn't interested, he needed is pulse checked.

None of this means they were going to actually get Smith because New England could have used him and had twice the salary cap space the Bears do. Nor does it mean they won't get Smith. The Chiefs could actually be doing this to try to squeeze a draft pick out of the Bears in a trade.

There are options remaining should the Chiefs actually come up with the salary cap cash to fit Smith onto their roster, but every single one of them is less than ideal.

The best free agent option should Smith really be in Kansas City next year is bringing back their own guard, Teven Jenkins, and also signing Detroit's veteran guard Kevin Zeitler.

Here's why.

Cash works for two guards

The popular notion is the Bears would want to bring in Kevin Zeitler as an option and, indeed, this looks like a good idea. It doesn't mean Jenkins isn't an option, too, and they need another guard anyway.

Spotrac.com estimates Jenkins is worth $10.3 million a year for an extension and Zeitler $9.2 million. Pro Football Focus says $13.3 million a year for Jenkins and $6.25 million for Zeitler.

Added together either way, it still doesn't reach the $23.4 million a year the Chiefs have committed to Smith by using the tag on him. They'd be getting a discount with cash back and have an extra player in case Jenkins continues with his injury issues of the past.

Make no mistake, Jenkins has had them, but at some point a player should be healthy a full season.

Either way, if he's hurt they'd have Zeitler as the starter and a draft pick option.

Teven Jenkins' consistency

Zeitler aside, Jenkins is the most dependable player in the group that includes Will Fries, Mekhi Becton and former Bears guard James Daniels.

In the last three years, Jenkins has been graded 18th, 13th and third  among guards in the NFL. Those numbers were comparable to Smith's, and unlike the other candidates Jenkins has been fairly effective blocking both the run and pass. He was 15th blocking the pass and 20th blocking the run last year. He had  similar balanced productivity in 2023.

Becton is a player with Super Bowl-winning experience but he had been an atrocious blocker at tackle and a failure before the Eagles moved him to right guard in desperation due to injuries on their line. He fit in as a part of a line consisting of great blockers and his abilities were elevated. How does he fare when added to a line struggling or trying to gain an identity like in New York, or like with the Bears in 2025? History says he's not so good.

When Becton was a starting tackle as a rookie in 2020, he gave up seven sacks in only . That was worse than all but five other tackles in the league. In 2023 with the Jets, he had give up 12 sacks and committed 18 penalties. Only two out of 137 tackles committed more penalties and only one out of 137 allowed more sacks. Essentially, Becton has had only one season with less than a full slate of snaps when he even achieved acceptable grade levels as a blocker.

Flat-out, Jenkins has better PFF blocking grades and rankings than Fries, Becton and Daniels over the last three seasons. The question is always health with him.

Health not much different

You'd probably not expect to see Jenkins described as a healthier option than many players, or as healthy, from the way he's often tagged as injury prone. But other options have either been worse or similar.

Daniels gets a great deal of attention for his high PFF grades last year but that was based on a 92.5 run-blocking grade, which was second in the league. The thing is, he was only 49th best guard at pass blocking and overall he only played 209 snaps because he suffered an Achilles injury and missed the last 12 games. His immediate recovery for the 2025 season can't be assumed.

Fries had an 86.9 grade last year as a blocker and people bowed down to him as a top free agent. Just like with Daniels, he only played a few games. He broke his leg in Week 5 and had only 268 plays in 2024. It's not hard to score that high for a grade in so limited a season.

Fries had never even approached average production in seasons prior to 2024 and he had only one full season of snaps prior to last year's drastically shortened season.

Age overtaking Kevin Zeitler

Jenkins is younger than Daniels, Becton and obviously 35-year-old Zeitler, and a month and a half older than Fries.

The Zeitler age situation is a real thing to worry about. He'll be 35 this season.

Last year there were two full-time NFL offensive line starters older than 34.

The offensive line is no country for old men. It's not quarterback, where players frequently go into their late 30s playing effectively.

The brutal play on the line makes for shorter careers.

Zeitler has been fortunate to get to 35 in the league as an offensive line starter. How long does this happen?

Maybe the answer is it happens as long as Jenkins' bad luck with injuries on the line lasts. If that's over, then the Bears definitely would be doing well to sign him back.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.