4 Chicago Bears facing a fight for new deals in 2024

2. Teven Jenkins

The odds are that this is the last season of Teven Jenkins with the Bears. First, Ryan Poles is not the person who drafted Jenkins, he inherited him from the Ryan Pace regime. There are very few Pace players left, and Jenkins is likely to be the next one to leave. 

Since Poles was hired the team has done everything to show that they do not trust Jenkins. They moved him from left tackle to right tackle and then to right guard. Then, they signed a right guard and moved him to left guard. Throughout the entire experience, Jenkins has been fighting through different injuries. 

Now, it is his last year on his rookie contract. As we noted with Jones, if Jenkins enters the year without a deal, he is most likely gone. If Jenkins plays well, he will have experience, and draft pedigree, and another General Manager will likely have higher regard for him. He may get paid. If Jenkins struggles then he proved Poles correct and is not worth bringing back. 

Jenkins may find a spot where he plays just well enough that Chicago offers a deal, but not too well that he would get paid. Still, that feels like a rare and unlikely chance. Jenkins is playing for a contract this year, but who knows who he will be getting it from?