When the Chicago Bears claimed Alex Leatherwood off of waivers, they knew that it was a longshot to work out. However, a former first-round pick was worth taking a swing on with the Bears roster constructed the way it was.
Still, while they hardly gave him a chance, rotating him into just two games, it appears as though they already know what they have.
As the season went on, and the losses stacked up, it was becoming clear that the team was more suited to see what they had in Leatherwood. He played 10 snaps on offense against Green Bay before the bye week, then played 17 snaps against Philadelphia out of the bye.
However, it appeared that Leatherwood was set to get more snaps against Philadelphia, the coaches just pulled the plug at halftime. He gave up four pressures, one being an ugly loss to Patrick Johnson, another being a sack that pushed the team out of field goal range.
After the sack that cost the team three points, Leatherwood did not play another snap. There is no way it was a part of the plan to have him play just the first half, and then not get a chance to rebound from ending on a bad note. The team ended the experiment early.
With both Cody Whitehair and Teven Jenkins injured this week many saw this as a chance for Leatherwood to slide inside to guard. Tackle is obviously not going to be his spot, so maybe he can try a new area?
The team started with Michael Schofield and Larry Borom. Borom had to slide from tackle to guard too, so it is not like they were worried about that. They were worried about Leatherwood.
Schofield and Borom both missed times against Buffalo. The Chicago Bears played Dieter Eiselen. This is telling because he is also the backup center. So, if he or Mustipher got hurt, the team would be in big trouble. Still, they would rather risk that than play Leatherwood at guard.
It is hard to say the Chicago Bears are giving up after 27 snaps. However, they have been working with him for 16 weeks, so those 27 snaps may have just confirmed what they knew. They do not trust him at tackle and took him out of the mix.
There were five guards on the current depth chart who will get looks before Alex Leatherwood. Maybe an offseason will help things, but that is what the Raiders were saying at this time last year. The Chicago Bears may have already had enough.