Through four games, how has Chicago Bears right tackle Bobby Massie graded out?
With the Chicago Bears having their bye week at the quarter point of the season, it was a good time to review each Bears first four games and evaluate how they played to project what they could do moving forward. After assessing the first four linemen, we move to Bobby Massie. While many have said that the Chicago Bears have a poor tackle unit, it appears that they are half correct. The Bears have an underrated Charles Leno and an adequately rated Bobby Massie.
As a run blocker, Massie is likely the worst of the group. The team has not run to his side too often, and that is likely for a good reason. The Chicago Bears have the least success running to his side. They average under two yards per carry running off of the right tackle. They average at least 2.6 yards per carry running to every other spot.
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Still, tackles are more prominently discussed for their pass protection. In that regard, Massie has been a disappointment as well. Two sacks, one hit, four pressures, and three losses that did not affect the play can be credited to Massie. The ten combined losses are one less than Eric Kush but is undoubtedly worse than Kyle Long with eight pass protection losses, Charles Leno with six and Cody Whitehair with five.
While it is fair to mention that teams have blitzed to Massie more than Leno, and that has made it a tougher job for Massie assignment-wise, that is for a reason, and As shown yesterday, Leno has handled blitz pick up and stunts. Therefore, it would only make sense to test Massie in that area.
The other caveat to that is that Massie has allowed a sack and lost a rep to Vinny Curry. He also allowed a hit, a pressure and a loss to Benson Mayowa. This is not necessarily Chandler Jones, who got the better of Leno once.
The second sack Massie allowed was to Frank Clark and was not much of his fault. However, he allowed another pressure to Clark as well and allowed a pressure to Nick Perry and lost a rep against Clay Matthews.
Overall
Without coming into the season with high hopes for Massie, you could argue he has played about up to his expectations. We knew he was going to be the weak spot on the line. However, while he has been one of the weaker players, it is fair to say that he has not been destroying the team with his play either.
He has gotten some praise from Pro Football Focus and has not been a liability, despite being more inconsistent than Leno, Whitehair, and Long. When you put it all together, you cannot be disappointed with what you have gotten out of Leno.
Grade: C-