After Caleb Williams was sacked a league-high 68 times in 2024, it was no surprise the Chicago Bears placed priority on fixing their offensive line last offseason.
What was surprising was the most significant move of that effort. General manager Ryan Poles traded a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for guard Joe Thuney, a Pro Bowler each of the last three years and a two-time reigning First Team All-Pro.
Sure, Thuney is up in age a little bit, now in his age-32 season, but he has been as good as it gets at left guard in the league going back several years. The Bears then fortified their commitment by giving Thuney a two-year, $35 million contract extension.
Week 1 was a rough one for the refurbished Bears' offensive line. Thuney was not immune, allowing four pressures from Williams. In Week 2, despite being credited with allowing zero pressures, Pro Football Focus gave him a lackluster pass-blocking grade (58.7).
Since then, Thuney has allowed a total of three pressures with a PFF pass blocking grade over 80.0 in five of seven games. As impactful as he has been off the field, as would've been expected, there has been zero erosion in his level of play.
Bears' savvy move to add Joe Thuney keeps getting proven as such
Focusing on what he has done on the field this season, Thuney pretty easily earned a spot among the five 2025 offseason additions that have worked out the best according to ESPN's Aaron Schatz.
"This one is not a surprise. After all, Thuney was a first-team All-Pro for the Chiefs the past two seasons. Sure, his pass block win rate was down to 87.7% when he had to play left tackle late in the 2024 season, but it was still leading the league when he was at left guard. His trade to Chicago was mainly about cutting salary, not a statement about Thuney's play declining."
"And Thuney has been at the top of the league again this season. In fact, not only does he once again lead the league in pass block win rate, but his run block win rate of 76.2% is eighth among guards, better than the 71.4% he put up in 2024."
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In ways easy to see and not as easy to know, at least until coaches or teammates speak on the latter front, Thuney has been everything the Bears thought they were getting when they acquired him. To add an influencer of his scale, a fourth-round pick was a small price to pay.