The Bears should definitely skip this suddenly available line option

Skipper isn't some legendary talent who the Bears need.

He just happened to be there when they had a few tackle injuries during Johnson's time. He stood in for Taylor Decker or at on time Penei Sewell, or he plays an extra tackle in an unbalanced line. He caught a touchdown pass as a tackle eligible.

He is basically Bradley Sowell before the Bears tried to make him into a tight end.

In fact, he's not even that good. Sowell had 25 NFL starts. Skipper, who is 30, has had 11.

He's 6-foot-9, 334 and has been with the Lions three different times, the Texans, the Raiders, the Broncos, the Patriots and the Colts.

Just can't get enough of players like that.

The Bears have a group of young tackles who might develop into the starting replacement for Braxton Jones if he leaves after this year.

Maybe Ozzy Trapilo didn't get it done but he is a second-round pick and was trying to make a move to the opposite side of the line as a rookie. Possibly next year he'd be ready to take a starting role.

They have Theo Benedet who actually had another good game Friday night against Chiefs subs, according to Pro Football Focus grades.

And they have Kiran Amegadjie, who has been scorned by fans for the way he played in his first ever preseason game against Buffalo.

On Friday, though, Amegadjie had the third-best PFF pass blocking grade among the 12 offensive linemen who played for Chicago.

And they're going to toss one of those players out for Skipper, a 30-year-old curiosity piece and Bradley Sowell 2.0.

Maybe Ben Johnson could run his version of "Santa's Sleigh" with Skipper the way Matt Nagy did with Sowell for a TD against the Rams. But other than that, there's no room at the inn for players unless they're certain to be standouts. This is a linman who got on the field 58 plays of offense from 2017 when he started out through 2021.

Then he played snaps in 2022 when Johnson became offensive coordinator and had a 19.6 Pro Football Focus season pass blocking grade. He's never hit 60 for PFF grades as a pass blocker except in 2020 when he played three snaps.

It would be hard to see what the Bears would see in Skipper if they signed him. That's one fish you throw back.