Are the Bears Offensive Tackles as Bad as You Think?

By Adewale Apata

Bobby Massie and Charles Leno Jr takes a plethora of heat from several mainstream Chicago media guys but do they really deserve the constant criticism? There’s one quality about Massie and Leno Jr that their haters cannot deny and that’s durability. Since Leno Jr took over the starting left tackle position in week 4 of 2015, he has not missed a start and Massie has only missed 4 games in the last 4 seasons. That’s saying a lot for a team that is use to digging deep on their depth chart due to terrible luck in the injury department.

According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Charles Leno Jr is much better than most Bear fans think. PFF ranked him as the 15^th best out of the 64 starting tackles in the NFL for the 2017 season. The Bears were 11^th in the league in rushing yards per attempt and in the middle of the pack at 17^th in the NFL in sacks allowed per game with Mike Glennon and a rookie QB. The Bears organization clearly does not believe the hate for Charles Leno Jr is warranted. They signed the 26 year old to a 4 year contract extension before the 2017 season that runs through the 2021 season. However, gripes Bobby Massie is justifiable as he is the 39^th ranked offensive tackle on that PFF list. Leno Jr is not going anywhere but are there any unrestricted free agent offensive tackles that can replace Bobby Massie? There’s only one guy that may get some consideration from Ryan Pace.

Nate Solder New England Patriots– He has started the last 7 years for the Patriots and the soon to be 30 year old (April 12^th) has contributed to an offensive line unit that has kept Tom Brady clean over the years but Pro Football Focus ranks him as the 32^nd best offensive tackle in the NFL. Plus signing Solder would create complications for the Bears offensive line structure because he has played left tackle his entire career, which is the same position Charles Leno Jr plays.

Bear fans can forget about Massie being replaced this off-season through free agency. However; since Massie will be a free agent after the 2018 season and Bears backup swing tackle Tom Compton is an unrestricted free agent, Pace will search for his backup and/or replacement through the draft.