One surprising Chicago Bears player could prove to be valuable

Someone to keep an eye on for the Chicago Bears offensive line shuffle is actor Bill Murray. Bad joke. He isn't the 82-year-old English actor nor the 73-year-old comedian actor we know of. He is a 27-year-old defensive tackle from William and Mary. Oh, come on! Why did his family do that to him? Anywho, Murray went undrafted to the New England Patriots in 2022. Yes, another Patriots retread, and yes, I said he is here to help the offensive line.

The defensive tackle has an impressive college resume. Murray had 19 sacks and ten blocked kicks during his collegiate career. He ran a 4.93 40-yard dash, benched 225 30 times, and had a 32 1/2-inch vertical leap. So why didn't Murray make it on the Patriots roster? I suppose he was playing the wrong position. His draft profile talks about the 6'4 265 defensive tackle as a two-way player. However, he wouldn't be able to play offensive line at that size.

Murray built up to 310lbs. Honestly, that's still a bit light for most interior offensive linemen, but it's the Chicago Bears under Ryan Poles. Murray has had a good training camp, and Matt Eberflus has seen it. When you hear his name in reports, you would expect him to be losing the battle to Gervon Dexter, Zaach Pickens, and Andrew Billings, but that hasn't been the case. Eberflus's name dropped him during his announcement that he wouldn't be playing the starters during the Hall of Fame game.

Murray could be that Akeim Hicks dream but on the other side of the ball. We have been down this road before with the Bears switching defensive tackles to the offensive line. It didn't work, but they gained a development backup for a few years. Remember Rashaad Coward? He lasted five seasons in the NFL, and only two were on the defensive side. Now, I am not saying to pray that Bill Murray becomes the man, but if he could become a serviceable backup at best, it's a win-win situation for the Bears.