Chicago Bears: Is Rashaad Coward ready for bigger role in 2019?

Will the Chicago Bears be far more dependent on Rashaad Coward in 2019?

OTAs are underway for the Chicago Bears. The Bears reportedly have had some incredible attendance at optional events throughout the offseason and the first round of OTAs was no different.

Today was the first day where the media was allowed at the practices and some interesting information came out.

When the Bears’ media members were given the roster, two interesting position changes were listed.

Mizzell leaves a crowded backfield to join a crowded group of wide receivers. For Mizzell, who had plenty of opportunities last year but failed to cash in on really any of them, he had zero chance to make this roster at running back with David Montgomery, Mike Davis, Tarik Cohen and even Cordarrelle Patterson.

At least at wide receiver, Mizzell has a shot, probably not more than a 2 or 3% chance, but that’s still better than zero.

The move of Sowell to tight end is the really interesting piece here.

First of all, the Bears will most likely carry four tight ends on the roster. Adam Shaheen and Trey Burton are locks. Ben Braunecker is almost certainly a lock as well. Braunecker is a key contributor on special teams and continues to improve as a tight end, and has the ability to back up both Shaheen at inline and Burton at the U.

The fourth tight end spot was open to debate, and where many fans hoped popular UDFA Dax Raymond would have a shot. Obviously, Raymond does have a chance at the 53-man roster, but Sowell’s addition here is an interesting development.

The one thing that the Bears’ roster was missing was a true blocking tight end. Shaheen was the closest thing they had and he wasn’t even a strong blocker as a rookie. In limited action in his second year (due to injury), Shaheen did show dramatic improvement in his blocking, but even with that improvement, he still doesn’t fit the mold of a true blocking tight end.

In 2018 Sowell was moved outside on tackle-eligible plays frequently, especially on the goal line, and he even caught a touchdown on the famous “Santa’s Sleigh” play.

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Sowell now looks to make the team as the fourth tight end and a true blocking tight end with a decent pair of hands.

Sowell’s departure from the offensive line and to the tight end group leaves the door wide open for Rashaad Coward to become the team’s swing tackle.

Coward was a UDFA in 2017 as a defensive lineman but after the 2017 season, Matt Nagy’s staff decided to convert him to an offensive tackle. With the incredible talents of Harry Hiestand as offensive line coach, Coward made an incredible transition to offensive tackle.

Coward was obviously raw, but when you watched him during the preseason, you could see the potential and the Bears’ coaches also talked about his impressive transformation.

The Bears presumably wanted to keep Coward on the practice squad for one more season, but with his eye-opening offensive tackle performance, they didn’t want to risk losing him to another team and Coward made the 53-man roster. Coward was basically never active throughout the season, proving that he was largely just stashed for one more season.

Bears fans and media haven’t really seen Coward play since the preseason and with several months of development under his belt since we last saw him, just how good he is at this point is a mystery. But with the move to Sowell to tight end, the assumption has to be that the Bears feel Coward is ready to become the primary swing tackle and backup both Charles Leno and Bobby Massie.

If Coward fails, it wouldn’t be impossible to move Sowell back to tackle, but at this point, things are definitely pointing up for another young player on the Bears’ roster.

If Coward does fully make the transition to tackle and become an important contributor this year and in future years, he will become another UDFA that Pace and his scouting department have found that became key pieces to the team.

Coward’s play during OTAs and training camp will be one to watch.