10 Takeaways from the Chicago Bears Khalil Mack trade

Chicago Bears Takeaway No. 8: How will Ryan Poles handle the left tackle spot?

The most interesting decision for Ryan Poles to make in 2022 is how does he handle the Bears’ left tackle situation. I suspect, even believe Teven Jenkins can become a very good left tackle but no one knows for certain if he is up to the task. Given this, Ryan Poles has a real decision to make. Does the team anoint Teven Jenkins as the Bears’ starting left tackle and hope he succeeds?

This would likely entail the Bears not trying to sign an expensive or relatively expensive free agent left tackle whose salary would demand he starts. Giving Jenkins the job outright has some big risk. It would hinder Fields’ growth if Jenkins really struggles to protect the blind side of Justin Fields and the Bears do not have any fallback options other than Larry Borom.

One thing that stood out from last season to me about Larry Borom is this. I recall Tom Thayer being quite adamant on the Bears All Access radio show that Larry Borom had all the qualities needed including nimble footwork to succeed as a starting left tackle.

Given everything that is involved in this decision, I suspect the best approach for left tackle is a middle-ground approach. That would be to sign a free agent who has shown the capacity to be a decent left tackle but is not going to cost $12 to $20 million per year to get signed.

Probably the best if not the only free agent to really fit this profile is Joseph Noteboom. Given that this is such a critical developmental year for Justin Fields, this middle-ground approach seems the most prudent. If you sign Noteboom, then the Bears could have Jenkins and Noteboom compete for the starting job in the preseason games.

Pro Football Focus (PFF) says Noteboom will likely get a one-year, $4 million contract this offseason. A possible obstacle to the Bears signing him is this. It is quite possible that Noteboom and the Rams both want Noteboom to stay in Los Angeles now that their starting left tackle has retired.

If I was trying to sell Noteboom on the Bears versus the Rams these would be my selling points. No one has repeated as a Super Bowl winner since the Patriots won the Super Bowls from the 2003 and 2004 seasons. As this happened 17 years ago the odds appear to be strongly against the Rams winning the Super Bowl next season. The Rams have traded away their high draft picks to go all-in now.

However, is the combo of Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay really special enough to lead their team to accomplish the NFL equivalent of climbing to the top of Mount Everest two years in a row with a short rest in between? Compare this to the 26-year-old Noteboom’s opportunity to sign with the Bears who have a 23-year-old potential franchise quarterback.

My most preferred left tackle solution would be to give Terron Armstead his $20 million per year while pushing most of his 2022 money into 2023. However, there is a pretty big obstacle to the Bears signing Armstead. The Bengals are very likely going to do absolutely whatever they can do to sign Armstead as Joe Burrow’s blindside protector. It seems very likely that Terron Armstead is heading to Cinncinatti in 2022.