Bears Need to Settle Line Issues Now

Nate Davis just arrived in Chicago and already there is talk he could be moved to left guard from right guard.

"Whatever the coaches want me to do. It really don't matter to me," he said, admirably taking the unselfish role.

Davis has never played left guard in the NFL. The left guard spot is usually one where teams like a more mobile player. Most teams run more often to the right and teams using extensive movement in blocking schemes up front will need the left guard to move more often.

Davis ran a 5.16-second 40-yard dash coming into the NFL and unless he's found a way to defy age—and no one else has—at age 26 after four NFL seasons it's unlikely he's faster than when he was a rookie.

And Davis' last time playing left guard anyway?

"I used to play a little bit in college," he said. "My previous team only asked me to play right side so that's where I played."

Actually, when he said "a little bit" in college it wasn't an exaggeration. He played college football at Charlotte and all the school's records of his starts came at right guard there, too. It could have been as a replacement at left guard or shifting in case of injury, but there has been virtually no time since he left high school when Davis played left guard.

The point isn't so much about Davis but about Bears overall offensive line plans.

They spent last year moving around their offensive line more than every other week. The starting lineup changed nine times. Larry Borom started at three different positions. Lucas Patrick played three positions but the one he was supposed to play the most he played the least.

Some of all this movement, of course, had to do with injuries but not all of it.

Offensive lines are at their best when players are in the same position week after week and they move as a cohesive unit, particularly in this wide-zone scheme the Bears use. It depends on getting out off the ball together and moving in a herd to one side or the other.

"We just want to get the best five out there, whatever that might be," offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said late last season.

Someone needs to think about getting the best five out there at positions of comfort. 

Moving Davis to left guard isn't going to put him at a position of comfort, even if he takes the team guy approach and says it's fine.

"If we could create competition and move guys around to see what the best five is, that's what we will do," GM Ryan Poles said last week.

Competition and this best five idea is all well and good and sounds like something a group of tough, faceless guys up front in the trenches like to hear. It's not going to make for a good line.

If it isn't fifth-year veteran Davis being asked to move to left guard, then it's going to have to be current right guard Teven Jenkins. He just moved from tackle last year to right guard and Pro Football Focus graded him the fourth-best guard in the league. And they're going to move him?

Poles already said they're looking at moving left guard Cody Whitehair to center. He used to play there and wasn't too bad at it after some initial problems snapping the ball. 

Still, Whitehair's last 35 starts came at left guard, not center, and he'll be 31 years old this season.

None of this has even begun to address right tackle, the real problem they have on the line and a spot they'll no doubt address somewhere early in the draft.

Hey, maybe they can just move a backup center to right tackle or make a tight end into a right tackle. Matt Nagy tried doing that once with Bradley Sowell and it worked as you'd expect. Obviously it didn't.

All of this movement with the line positions, especially when it comes to Jenkins because of his past, is a very good way to start up trade rumors again. They saw enough of that last year in training camp.

Offensive linemen might be a faceless bunch but it would be good to see the same faceless guys playing the same position week after week, from the start of training camp if not OTAs, as building a cohesive group requires constant repetition in the same spot.

Having versatile linemen is fine. Having versatile linemen who play the same position each week, one they are very familiar with, is ideal and the best way to run-block and to protect quarterback Justin Fields.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven