Leading up to the NFL’s 2019 regular season, everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly for the Chicago Bears health-wise. Unfortunately, the ball club has been hit with their first significant injury. Head coach Matt Nagy has informed the media that left tackle T.J. Clemmings will be out for the season with a quadriceps injury.
Clemmings, who signed with the Bears this past May, suffered the injury to his quad during Chicago’s 27-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3 of the preseason. Currently, the 27-year-old is the third-string left tackle on the Bears’ depth chart, behind Charles Leno Jr. and Cornelius Lucas.
The five-year veteran has started 32 of the 41 games he’s played in for the Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins, and the Minnesota Vikings. Clemmings’ experience would’ve been very valuable for Chicago’s inexperienced depth behind their starting offensive front.
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Throughout the preseason, the Bears’ starting five on the offensive line hasn’t played, and their reserves have had plenty of playing time. During the first preseason tilts, Chicago has surrendered 10 sacks. Some of that might be contributed to the indecisions of the backup quarterbacks, while the rest could be a result of unproductive play by the linemen themselves.
Regardless, the season-ending injury to Clemmings could hurt the Bears’ offensive front in the regular season, and will definitely change some of the coaching staff’s decision-making when it comes to deciding which offensive linemen will be on the team’s 53-man roster for 2019.
Clemmings was a fourth-round draft pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Vikings, and originally was a defensive end for the University of Pittsburgh before converting to offensive tackle. Clemmings was also placed on injured reserve (IR) with an ankle injury in 2017 while with the Redskins, was on IR in 2018 with a knee injury while with the Raiders, and on the Bears’ physically-unable-to-perform list prior to training camp this summer with a knee injury.