When the Chicago Bears opened up their first minicamp this week, the new coaches and staff finally got to work hands-on with some of the returning and new personnel. This is a very small peak, but at least a first glance into what the coaches think of their players.
With that in mind, it has to be worth reporting that Teven Jenkins spent the first day at right tackle, while Larry Borom was at left tackle.
Teven Jenkins was at RT and Larry Borom at LT during today's minicamp practice. Matt Eberflus said the Bears are going to play with "a lot of different combinations" this offseason.
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) April 19, 2022
Eberflus "We’re just trying to figure out what guys do and what they do best. So you could see
As noted in the report, it does appear as though the coaches will give Jenkins his chances at left tackle as well. A lot of different combinations mean that Borom could move to guard, or Jenkins as well, so we will see just what he means by a lot very soon.
Still, this has to be a meaningful statement for Teven Jenkins, at least more than Larry Borom. In the case of Teven Jenkins, many had him as a first-round pick on paper, but he did slide into round two.
Some coaches may not have been as big of a fan as Jenkins as Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. When the Chicago Bears drafted Jenkins they immediately moved Charles Leno, a sign that they saw Jenkins as a future left tackle with no questions asked. Before his injury set him back and the team scrambled to sign Jason Peters, it was expected that Jenkins would be a day one starter at left tackle. That is how Pace viewed him.
Do Chicago Bears view Teven Jenkins differently now?
Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus may like Teven Jenkins, but they do not view him in the same light as Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. If they saw him as someone who could have started at left tackle as a rookie when healthy, he would have jumped right into left tackle and there would have been no combinations and switching.
Eberflus is smart to let the competition play itself out, but in a perfect world, he pens in a left tackle on day one, and that tackle works on his craft with every repetition that he gets. To be moving Jenkins around, and starting him at right tackle shows that while he can win the left tackle job, they are not handing it to him in any degree close to the way Ryan Pace was.
Eberflus may say things will change, but we may see Jenkins lock into right tackle moving forward. A lot of people disagreed with Pace in the first place that left tackle was his best fit. That is not an issue at all but does speak to how differently Pace and Poles viewed this lineman.
Poles may be very high on his right tackle prospects, but it is obvious that he does not think that he is as high-end of a left tackle as Ryan Pace did.