Bear Digest

The great budding Chicago Bears guard debate in 2025 NFL Draft

Should the Bears take a guard who might be graded lower or take a tackle and move him to guard to see what they have? It's an argument likely to rage until pick No. 10 in Round 1.
Gene Chamberlain|
Alabama guard Tyler Booker has been impressive but some think it's a reach if the Bears take him No. 10.
Alabama guard Tyler Booker has been impressive but some think it's a reach if the Bears take him No. 10. | Brett Patzke-Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

The draft is fun because it speaks to the future, of both optimism and potential.

It's much easier to optimistic when assessing a player at a skill position, though, because those spots involve the football.  

In the opinion of one highly regarded draft analyst, Bears fans shouldn't be any less enthusiastic about this draft even if every analyst worth his salt is saying they must draft a guard. That analyst would be NFL media's Daniel Jeremiah.

"I know it's not the sexiest thing in the world," Jeremiah said in a conference call with media. "I know people don't want to get super excited about taking a guard with the 10th pick, but if you watched the Bears play last year, you might be excited about taking a guard at the 10th pick."

He's right, and someone else would be excited. That would be Caleb Williams, after being sacked 68 times.

There seems to be a split opinion, though, on who the Bears should actually take 10th overall among linemen. They can't take an actual guard there because none are graded high enough by talent evaluators. Or can they?

If it's going to be a case of the best available blocker and putting the best five blockers on the field, then divvying the positions, it can work either way.

It's an old NFL debate. The faces just change.

But Jeremiah has been one of those most steadfastly pointing to a particular guard for the Bears. That's Alabama's Tyler Booker.

Now, Jeremiah did call for the Bears to draft tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. of Texas at No. 10 in his last mock draft, but it was only after he had said they should draft Booker in his first mock.

If it's Banks, it would mean turning a tackle into a guard. It always sparks a debate over why a player perfectly good at one position should be expected to give it up in the NFL to play another spot. In this case, it would be a worthwhile maneuver, says ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller.

"Banks was my top-ranked tackle before the season began," Miller wrote in his description of Banks for his top-50 big board. "The junior allowed only four pressures and one sack (which came in a rough Week 8 outing against Georgia) on 898 snaps despite battling an ankle injury late in the season.

"Banks' game is clean, but it's his lateral agility and quick feet that scouts love and believe will help make up for a lack of ideal height (6-foot-4). 'I've never seen his length be an issue,' an AFC scouting director said. 'He moves too well.' "

Jeremiah found a flaw in Banks' game, though.

"He is 320 pounds," Jeremiah said. "He is thick. He is sturdy. He can bend; he is athletic enough to really sink and bend. He keeps his hands in tight. He plays with patience.

"The stuff that he gets in trouble with is sometimes he sets a little bit deep, and then he ends up getting in some trouble that way when he kind of creates more runway (for the edge rusher). I think if he could be a little more firm and not get in quite as much depth in his set that he will be able to solve that problem."

There is no reason to set deep if you're a guard. The pass rush is coming right on top of you, in your face, right from the snap. So guard might actually be his better position.

Banks' arm length will be watched closely at scouting combine measurements this week but there are reports it could be close to 35 inches, and that's easily long enough for him to be a tackle if a team wanted him to play there.

The Bears already have a left tackle in Braxton Jones and he's in the last year of his contract. They have another potential tackle candidate with 36-inch arms in Kiran Amegadjie, a third-round pick.

Jeremiah's description of Booker says he's still someone capable of being drafted 10th. In fact, even though he backed off of Booker at No. 10, he had Booker going 13th to Miami even as other mock drafts have him going in the second half of the first round.

"Booker to me is one of more consistent players that I've watched in this class," Jeremiah explained in the confrence call "He's big. He's powerful. He's someone that when you talk to the folks at Alabama, they just rave about him in terms of the work ethic, the leadership.

"Someone there told me he was like the Will Anderson of their offense in terms of the leadership."

The Bears could always use leadership, and they could use a strong blocker at guard more.

They could use consistency, too, after Teven Jenkins was in and out of the lineup so often.

If Booker is good enough that he could be considered a Dolphins pick at No. 13, why not trade back to No. 12 and take him, or simply draft him 10th? It's only a few spots higher and they'd be getting a player ready made for guard.

This tackle/guard dilemma is one likely to be debated from now until draft day.

Either way, guard or tackle converted to guard, it sounds like the lineman Williams would be getting an effective blocker.

More Chicago Bears News

X: BearsOnSI

Published
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.