Bear Digest

What a dream offseason for Chicago Bears offense looks like

The offensive side of the Chicago Bears roster would appear on the verge of drastic change, particularly at guard and center, but they need other additions as well.
Gene Chamberlain|
Trey Smith has the attention of fans as he leaves the field in Kansas City. There's little doubt he'd be an ideal Bears fit.
Trey Smith has the attention of fans as he leaves the field in Kansas City. There's little doubt he'd be an ideal Bears fit. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears have had GM Ryan Poles in charge since 2022, a personnel man with a history as a college offensive lineman.

It's a complete embarrassment, then, how three years into Poles' regime the offensive line is both disappointing and entirely substandard.

You would think a cutting-edge personnel man with offensive line experience would have supplied a quality long-term starting center over three years time at the very least. After all, this is the only position that touches the ball every play. Even the quarterback leaves on rare occasion if the offense uses wildcat formation.

It all has to start with the center.


Instead, they've spent the time plugging in one role player and backup type after another, beginning with undrafted Sam Mustipher in 2022. Mustipher has started three games since leaving Chicago after 2022, which shows where he rated.

Then they went to Lucas Patrick as a starter in 2023. In that season, Patrick played almost as many snaps at center (953) as he had in his first six seasons (960). He's in New Orleans playing left guard, not center.

Then Poles brought in both Coleman Shelton and Ryan Bates. Many observers thought it was a situation made for Bates to take the position, as he got paid more and they gave up a fifth-round pick to acquire him. Instead, Bates got hurt and then hurt again, Shelton took the position and didn't play terrible football, according to Pro Football Focus grading. However, he tended to get totally mauled by big bull rushers and allowed three sacks and 26 pressures.

Shelton was a low-cost insurance policy who snapped the ball only 658 times in his first four NFL years. About 1,000 snaps is one regular season. Then he started for one year with the Rams and they were impressed enough that they let him leave in free agency for Chicago.

The Bears again settled for a center in Year 3 on the offensive line.

So while there have been people beating the drums for Trey Smith as the big money offensive line acquisition, they should have a "Drum B" right next to it with people doing the same for a true center.

It is right here where the ideal Bears offseason must begin, just like it is where every play of the season for the offense begins.

Here is the dream offseason for the Bears offense.

Ryan Poles, get out your wallet. Where the changes on defense need to be slight and can be addressed with small amounts of cash, the real necessary team changes are going to cost cap cash.

Offensive Line

Starters: Braxton Jones, Will Campbell (draft pick), Ryan Kelly (free agent), Trey Smith (free agent), Darnell Wright

Key depth: Matt Pryor, Kiran Amegadjie, Ryan Bates, Cornelius Lucas (free agent), Seth McLaughlin (draft pick)

They could choose to go several ways at center. One would be to pursue former Lions backup lineman Evan Brown and then draft a center. He has an understanding of what Johnson wants from offensive lines.

The Bears do not need "understanding" by players who are quasi-starters trying to fit in as the leader of the offensive line.

This is why they have so many veteran coaches. They took this approach with Luke Getsy and center Lucas Patrick, who really wasn't a higher quality center. Accept mediocrity and you're mediocre.

Sure, Brown is a potential addition. He is looking for his seventh team since coming into the league in 2019 as an undrafted free agent. He didn't even play center last year in Arizona. In Detroit, he was in Ben Johnson's offense for 12 starts in 2022 as a guard after the only reason he started at center in 2021 under coordinator Anthony Lynn was Frank Ragnow's season-ending injury.

The Bears already went the undrafted center route with Mustipher, too, and it didn't work.

It's time to take out the wallet and pay for an actual starting NFL center. Kelly is a better option over the half-baked weak approach. Drew Dalman is higher rated by Pro Football Focus and is estimated to cost slightly more, but there is one reason Kelly is the better option and that is he has been one of the league's better pass-blocking centers for the majority of his nine-year career.

Dalman's run blocking has been superb but he finally reached an acceptable pass-blocking level last year for the first time. The Bears must protect Caleb Williams at all costs and Kelly was injured last year but should be fine now at age 32. He's not yet an age where he should be done, but you're drafting McLaughlin from Ohio State to be the center of the future, anyway. He is a mid-round pick who was center for college football's best offensive line and will pick everything up well from an older center in a mentor-student relationship.

The benefit of drafting Campbell 10th overall is he might be a left tackle starter eventually but could also play guard. There is also a chance he'd be gone by the 10th pick. Then Texas' Kelvin Banks is a suitable first-round option. Whichever tackle they pick, they'd be versatile enough to move to guard until after Braxton Jones goes into free agency for 2026, or maybe Amegadjie and his 36-inch arms go there in 2026 after he gets some more experience.

Smith is the big cash payout for this free agency, and whatever else they do they must outbid the other teams for him if they're serious about redoing the line.

But center is also a must.

Cornelius Lucas is a backup swing tackle who surprised as a sub starting due to injuries at the position during his only Bears season (2019), then he was good enough to start effectively in Washington. He's projected at only $2.7 million for this year and his strength is pass blocking. He figures to be a backup going forward and would be ideal depth again in Chicago for a year or two.

Running backs

Starter: Kaleb Johnson

Key depth: D'Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson

In my opinion, they should simply cut their entire running back group and start from scratch. But there might not be the cash to go around for such a move after they pay so much for offensive line help. Drafting Johnson will probably require one of their Round 2 picks. At 6-foot-1, 233, he is a load to bring down and gained over 1,000 yards after contact last season for Iowa, with 21 touchdowns. That's the type of power you need starting.

Kaleb Johnson is compared by The 33rd Team's Tyler Brooke to James Conner, who is a free agent and a real tackle breaker but is 29 years old.

Swift downshifted to a 99-carry role in Ben Johnson's first year as coordinator in Detroit and he'll have to do it again in Chicago. The dead cap hit from cutting Swift is too high for simply cutting him.

Johnson hasn't had a chance to show what he can really do, and maybe he gets it now with new coaches and a new offense, or maybe they look for even more speed late in the draft.

Wide Receivers

Starters: DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Cooper Kupp (free agent)

Key depth: Tyler Scott, DeAndre Carter

The shocking name here is Cooper Kupp, of course. They won't make a trade to get him. ESPN's Bill Barnwell projects, as has been suggested here at Chicago Bears On SI, that Kupp will not be dealt by the Rams and will be a cap cut victim. However, he also projects Kupp's cost at a shocking $8 million as a free agent.

This comparatively low amount would be well worth the investment for a slot receiver with his experience. If the Bears could come up with a slot who has better speed, it might be a better fit. But these are not easy to come by at reasonable rates, and rookies often have a hard time becoming slot receivers because of the combination of physicality and speed involved over the middle on plays in the NFL compared to what they faced in college.

Carter returns as a free agent because it's not easy finding combination kick/punt returners who do both well and can even contribute on offense if called upon.

Tight Ends

Starters: Cole Kmet

Key depth: Jordan Akins (free agent), Mitchell Evans (draft pick)

They really need to come up with a pair of reserves here because there are plenty of times when Johnson teams go to 12- or 13-personnel packages. Evans would be a good fit as another Notre Dame tight end and a Kmet sidekick. Evans has been a Browns backup capable of contributing in several ways and he caught 206 passes over seven seasons with 2,777 yards and 10 TDs. At 245 pounds, he's more likely to be in a U-tight end role than the in-line guy. The Bears had the right idea with Gerald Everett last year but didn't give him the chance.

Quarterbacks

Starter: Caleb Williams

Key depth: Tyson Bagent

If they didn't have so much need on both sides of the line of scrimmage, then drafting Jaxson Dart in Round 2 if he's available would make so much sense. Getting an accurate pocket passer who can scramble and faced SEC opponents can be someone who backs up or even takes over as starter if the Williams never develops. But those needs are far too great on the line. They're drafting people at positions now and signing them when they should have done it in Year 1 of their rebuild. So now they pay the price and give up on chances for players who eventually could develop into a role.

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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.