Is this draft pick making final start for Chicago Bears?

The end of the Chicago Bears 2021 season will signal the start of new for many areas in the franchise. The Bears have plenty of holes on the roster and have a lot of decisions when it comes to their own free agents.  It is tough to say exactly what will happen because we are still unsure who will be making decisions for the team. Still, one player that the Chicago Bears have to try to retain is James Daniels.

James Daniels is the definition of what drafting and retaining your players is for. He has been up and down during his rookie contract, but that was understandable considering he was the youngest offensive lineman in his draft class.

Now, James Daniels will enter the 2022 season as a 24-year-old who will turn 25 in September. These are the prime years of his career, and this is what the first four years were building towards.

During the first two years of his career, the team was looking for the right fit. He needed to gain muscle and mature physically, and after his rookie year came an up and down season at center. Still, it is hard to say how much of that had to do with Mitch Trubisky not being on the same page as him.

Either way, his third year saw him move back to left guard, and it was looking to be his breakout season. A torn pec ended that campaign early.

Then, the Chicago Bears asked him to move once again, this time to right guard. Nobody is nominating James Daniels for an All-Pro, but with a weak center, and shuffling at right tackle beside him, Daniels was completely fine, and arguably the lone positive on the 2021 offensive line.

This is not the type of player that you let walk. He is just now hitting his peak, and he just now found his home at right guard. With Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins, things are finally starting to come together at tackle. The last thing you need is to start shaking up the interior, and we know center has to be addressed.

There will obviously be a line where he becomes overpaid, and as a young lineman on the free market, he may hear big numbers. Still, the Chicago Bears have to do everything they can to avoid drafting Daniels in the second round and watching him become everything they wanted on another team.