Chicago Bears Thought No. 5:Â Alex Leatherwood showed promise in his debut
Alex Leatherwood finally made his debut with the Bears against the Packers. He held up very well despite playing only ten snaps in the entire game.
According to PFF, Alex Leatherwood didn't allow a pressure in seven pass opportunities.https://t.co/LGqX9oOTiy
— Bears Talk (@NBCSBears) December 5, 2022
A 17th overall selection in last year’s draft, he struggled badly in his only season with the Raiders and was surprisingly released before the start of the 2022 season. The Bears claimed him off of waivers.
He could have played much sooner had he not contracted mononucleosis. He reportedly lost 25 pounds and even though he was activated in October, it took him a while to get back into football shape, and was not activated immediately.
You can see below that he protected Fields well in two of his biggest passing plays.
Alex Leatherwood made his #Bears debut this week and incidentally became a good luck charm for his offense. He didn't make any wild blocks, but Fields hit big pass plays when he entered the game.
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) December 5, 2022
Here's all 10 of his snaps -- would love to see Flus get him more work this year. pic.twitter.com/d0l0oSvDZh
With the Bears already out of the playoff race at this point, playing veteran Riley Reiff and Larry Borom, who lost the starting job ahead of him makes no sense. The next four games are very important for Leatherwood and his development considering the amount of time he missed due to illness.
They need to start determining which players, including Leatherwood, are going to be part of their core next year and beyond. If Leatherwood can hold up playing against Super Bowl contenders Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Minnesota, the right tackle position will be one less position the Bears have to worry about this offseason.
Even if the Bears decide to sign or draft a left tackle in the offseason, he should be able to compete with Braxton Jones for the right tackle position, which he is more comfortable and suited for.