There is still time for James Daniels to develop into a stable NFL guard for the Chicago Bears?
Chicago Bears fans may be disappointed with the first two seasons by James Daniels. The second-round pick could not beat out Eric Kush in his first training camp, although he did jump into the starting lineup by Week 5. We all know the downfalls of his second season and the switch from guard to center and eventually back to guard.
With that in mind, the public perception has certainly lowered on Daniels over the past two years. However, fans need to remember that entering the NFL draft, one of the biggest positives in his favor was age. Daniels was one of a few players every year who was drafted at age 20. He was only 21 as a rookie and is still just 22 years old currently.
To put that into perspective, here is a list of the top ten interior linemen drafted in 2020 and their ages. Keep in mind that Daniels is currently 22.9 years old.
Robert Hunt- 23.6
Damien Lewis- 23.1
Jonah Jackson- 23.2
Matt Hennessy- 22.4
Lloyd Cushenberry- 22.4
Tyre Phillips- 23.2
John Simpson- 22.7
Solomon Kindley- 22.7
Logan Stenberg 23.1
Kevin Dotson 23.6
That is right, of all of the top rookie offensive guards, only Kindley and Simpson are younger, and by just a month or so. Hennessy and Cushenberry will try to make the same jump as Daniels at center and are about five months younger. We will see how they make the jump, but it is fair to say that if Daniels was still in college the past two seasons that he would be the top interior lineman drafted in the 2020 NFL draft.
Past examples of young lineman with starting experience
Considering the average age of the offensive lineman drafted in this year’s draft is slightly older than James Daniels, it should be evident that Daniels is in rare territory starting 26 games in the NFL before turning 23. Only ten linemen have ever gotten on the field that much that early.
Below is a list of the 17 offensive linemen who have more than one season of starting snaps before turning age 23. They are sorted by Approximate Value.
Game Misc Rk Player Draft GS AV 1 Maurkice Pouncey 1-18 30 24 2 Tyron Smith 1-9 31 20 3 Bryan Bulaga 1-23 24 18 4 Tarik Glenn 1-19 32 18 5 Willie Anderson 1-10 26 17 6 Anthony Davis 1-11 32 17 7 Ereck Flowers 1-9 31 16 8 Courtney Hall 2-37 32 15 9 Korey Stringer 1-24 30 14 10 Trai Turner 3-92 25 14 11 Garry Puetz 12-300 19 13 12 James Daniels 2-39 26 11 13 Jared Gaither 5-0 17 9 14 Connor Williams 2-50 21 9 15 Marcus Johnson 2-49 18 8 16 Marcus Martin 3-70 22 8 17 Olin Kreutz 3-64 17 7
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/11/2020.
Overall, Daniels has been in rare territory just by getting on the field this early. Still, you can see that he did not quite hit the ground running as multiple All-Pro Maurkice Pouncey did. Aside from Pouncey, who was much better in his first two seasons, the top six on this list are offensive tackles, and not quite comparable to Daniels on a skill set.
Stringer, unfortunately, passed away and played tackle but was on path for an excellent career, just like the names above. Jared Gaither was a tackle. However, they did not ascend despite the experience. Marcus Martin retired early in his career with overwhelming injuries as well.
This takes the list down to Trai Turner, Ereck Flowers, Courtney Hall, Garry Puetz, Connor Williams, Marcus Johnson, and Olin Kreutz.
Trai Turner and Hall had a long, successful career. Puetz was up and down and moved around over a long career, and Johnson never ascended.
Williams is in the same draft class as Daniels while Flowers finally switched positions last year, had his best season, and got a big contract from Miami.
Of course, we all know Olin Kreutz. He has had a similar start to his career to Daniels, although he stayed the course at center throughout his career.
Still, seeing Trai Turner, Courtney Hall, and Olin Kreutz as three linemen who took some time adjusting while getting on the field early and eventually turned into longterm starters, it does present optimism that Daniels still has a lot of time to put things together.