Bear Digest

Why Ashton Jeanty still looks like a Bears luxury draft pick

Analysis: Ashton Jeanty's talent can't be denied but even after adding two guards the Bears can't afford to look his way in the draft until they take care of more problems.

Gene Chamberlain

Ashton Jeanty has talent to be a first-rounder but the Bears haven't yet put in place what's needed to make him effective.
Ashton Jeanty has talent to be a first-rounder but the Bears haven't yet put in place what's needed to make him effective. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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The biggest myth developing about the Bears draft is how the trades for Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson makes running back Ashton Jeanty an obvious likely pick for Round 1 at No. 10.

They haven't done enough yet to make this assumption.

Until the Bears have a center in place who is a legitimate effective starter and also another edge rusher capable of starting immediately to complement Montez Sweat, they haven't put themselves into position to select a running back in Round 1.

In fact, even if they do sign center Drew Dalman or even Ryan Kelly, they can't make as assumption about anything until they have found another starting edge rusher. There is no one capable at that position right now.

A second effective edge rusher in today's league is always more important than a running back regardless of what Saquon Barkley accomplished this year in Philadelphia. A center completes the offensive line. Their biggest need was not only to complete the line but to properly protect Caleb Williams and they can't justify a person to run with the football until they can say they can keep Caleb Williams clean.

Assume they do find that center in free agency, whether the aforementioned or even others like Evan Brown or Josh Myers, and then come up with an edge rusher, its entirely possible they still can't justify taking a player at a position where they can easily find someone else capable and even of comparable talent to Jeanty in the eyes of many scouts.

In the last five drafts, the only first-round running backs taken were Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Najee Harris, Travis Etienne, Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs. It's debatable whether any of these players were worth taking in Round 1 other than Gibbs.

While Harris had a good first four years, the Steelers didn't even pick up his fifth-year option so how good of a pick was this? Robinson hasn't done enough yet to arrive at a verdict about whether the pick was worthy of a first-round selection.

As for Gibbs, he's a player many see as a comparison to Jeanty for Johnson's offense. The Lions did take him and he's producing in a two-back attack. What's important to note, though, is they already had their offensive line in place when they took him.

If Detroit was still scrambling to put a line in place, there is no way his selection at No. 12 overall could have been justified.

It might seem like the Bears have just put their line in place with two guards but they haven't. When they have the center, they could justify it but it still isn't in place and here's why.

They need to look beyond Year 1. They traded for Thuney but there's one year left on his contract. They traded for Jackson but there are enough questions  about him since last year that no one can say with certainty he'll be the long-term answer at guard.

Left tackle Braxton Jones is in the last year of his contract.

When the Bears have Thuney under contract for more than one year and their center answer under contract, they can't possibly justify selecting Jeanty.

The Lions, the Eagles and the better teams at running the ball don't just assemble a starting five, they put young linemen of quality behind them who can ascend when they lose linemen. The Bears definitely haven't done this, either.

Bill Belichick said it, so did many others. GM Ryan Poles put the cart in front of the horse by going after all sorts of positions in the draft and free agency and not offensive linemen, who make the quarterback and running back effective.

Jeanty is still the cart and Poles/Johnson have only assembled part of the horse team needed.

There's little doubt about Jeanty's talent. In fact, his ability might be better than Gibbs because he's bigger and able to break away from defenses so he can play more downs than a player of Gibbs' size.

However, until the Bears have the ability to block the run better than last year and, more importantly pass block for Caleb Williams, then a talented running back is simply a wasted pick.

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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.