Reading the tea leaves from the Chicago Bears trade for Dan Feeney

It is like pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of Matt Eberflus sometimes. That's how it has been this offseason regarding any and all injuries. We know that Teven Jenkins is dealing with a calf strain in each leg. What we don't know is just how serious the injuries are. Originally, Matt Eberflus made it seem as though Jenkins would be fine. Now, the Chicago Bears head coach is calling Jenkins week-to-week. Which one is it, coach?

Heading into today's cutdown day, we already knew that PJ Walker and Alex Leatherwood wouldn't be sticking around. They got the early notice and I didn't have any problems with the moves despite having both in my initial 53-man roster projections.

Late last night, Ryan Poles made a trade. This wasn't a blockbuster trade for Chris Jones. Instead, it was a sixth-round draft pick for backup offensive lineman, Dan Feeney. It will be interesting to see how quickly Feeney can get up to speed. He has plenty of experience as a guard (mostly left) and a center. The versatility of Feeney is likely why he was a trade target for Poles. Alex Leatherwood had a decent preseason and I thought he could handle playing left guard while Teven Jenkins was out. With injuries to Cody Whitehair and Doug Kramer, Chicago needed an experienced, versatile lineman.

What does Dan Feeney trade say about the state of the Chicago Bears?

As of now, Cody Whitehair should be healthy enough to start at left guard. However, if he can snap by Week 1, he has to be the guy. Doug Kramer is also dealing with a hand injury and might not be able to snap. These injuries are clearly a big reason why Ryan Poles used draft capital for a player like Feeney.

The tea leaves make it seem like Kramer will not be ready to go and at best, Lucas Patrick will be able to start at center Week 1, while Cody Whitehair starts at left guard. Feeney is an insurance policy. For now. He's also a mid-level player at best.

Feeney has been a rotational backup for the last two seasons for the Jets. He had less than 200 snaps in each season. Last year, he gave up one sack and had three penalties on only 109 snaps. The year before, he didn't give up any sacks or commit any penalties in 185 snaps.

We have to go back to 2020 to see how Feeney did as a starter. It was not great. Feeney started as the Chargers' center and he gave up four sacks while also committing two penalties. He also allowed 33 pressures. Not good. In 2018 and 2019, Feeney started at left guard for the Chargers. He allowed 89 pressures and 13 sacks over that two-year span. Yikes. The hope is he's improved and the good news is his preseason tape at least looked better.

Feeney brings versatile depth to an offensive line that is clearly dealing with worse injuries than Matt Eberflus is alluding to. It's hard to get excited about this trade though and if Feeney were brought in to play center that would take some time for him to learn the language and calls. It's more likely he will be a backup or play guard right away. The good news is Miami runs a similar running scheme and the ramp-up period should go at least a little quicker. No matter how you look at it, offensive line depth is great, I just thought Alex Leatherwood played well enough to stick around.