Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bears continued to upgrade their roster on Sunday making four roster moves, one of which may have a significant impact on the Bears starting O-line this season. The Bears most notable move today was releasing right tackle Jordan Mills. Mills, a 5th round pick in 2013, has started 31 games for the Bears over the last two seasons and was projected as the starter this year as well, but lost his job to Charles Leno before the 3rd preseason game and was released this morning.
More from Chicago Bears News
- Franchise tag and transition tag windows open for Chicago Bears and NFL
- How the Chicago Bears can control the running back market in 2023
- The Chicago Bears can own the city of Chicago moving forward
- Chicago Bears NFL Combine Preview: Quarterback
- 7 best free agent tackle options for Chicago Bears
The release of Mills leaves just 2nd year player Leno, a 6th round pick in 2013, and rookie 6th round pick Tayo Fabuluje at right tackle on the Bears depth chart. The release of Mills has re-started talk about Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long moving over to right tackle. Long has practiced at the position often during training camp this year and has the size and athleticism to be dominant at the position.
The fact that the Bears replaced Mills by signing G Patrick Omameh from Tampa just reinforces the idea that Long could be moving. Though Omameh has been playing right tackle in camp with the Bucs and the Bears might be willing to roll the dice with the inexperienced Leno / Fabuluje / Omameh group at right tackle.
Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports
Omameh was an undrafted free agent out of Michigan who signed with the Bucs in 2013 and started all 16 games for a bad O-line last season. According to Pro Football Focus, Omameh was the 55th ranked starting guard out of 64 and allowed 5 sacks and 25 QB hurries. Clearly those aren’t impressive numbers, but Omameh had a positive scouting report from NFL.com, citing his size (6’4 | 303), flexibility, intelligence and above average athleticism as reasons to be optimistic about his long-term potential.
The Bears also released veteran safety Sherrod Martin today despite a strong performance in Thursday’s preseason finale. Martin struggled for most of the preseason though and is at best a mediocre backup. Martin was replaced by undrafted rookie Harold Jones-Quartey who was released yesterday by the Cardinals.
Jones-Quartey played his college ball at division II Findlay. He played both corner and safety in college, but is most likely to be just a special teams contributor with the Bears as a rookie. Jones-Quartey has average size (5’11 | 215) but solid athletic measurables (4.59 speed, 40″ vertical, 11’1 broad jump, 6.78 3-cone). He was a dominant run stopper in college (197 tackles in 2 seasons) but it’s a huge jump from DII to the NFL.
Jones-Quartey played pretty well in the preseason with a +1.5 overall grade from PFF. He was solid against the run (+1.9), but struggled in coverage in his last game against the Broncos giving up a 78-yard TD to Andre Caldwell. Ultimately the fact that Martin doesn’t contribute much on special teams was probably the primary factor in the Bears decision to swap him for Jones-Quartey, but it’s also a vote of confidence for rookie Adrian Amos.
Next: Should the Bears move Kyle Long to Right Tackle?