Blocking Bears: Ranking the Offensive Line Through Week 8

In this article, we rank the Bears' offensive linemen based on their performances through their Week 8 loss to the Washington Commanders. To build out my grading system, I watched each game five times, once for each position on the offensive line. I use a five-tier grading system, ranking each rep as Great, Good, Fine, Poor, or Bad. Then, I used these tiers to generate the final grades and block success rates. For grading purposes, 60 is considered average.

Additionally, I've included videos for each player. These include every positive and negative rep from the previous game, omitting the "Fine" reps. And make sure to check out the Bears On Tap offensive line film review on YouTube.

1. Darnell Wright - Right Tackle

Previous Rank: 1 (no change)

Darnell Wright remains in the top spot with a grade of 66.4 (slightly above average). Wright had noticeably more burst against Washington. He built off a strong Week 6 showing against the Jacksonville Jaguars with another strong performance in Week 8.

In pass protection, Wright consistently forced rushers above the pocket without inhibiting the passer. The Commanders didn't test his anchor often, and they were consistently stopped when they did. Wright played with active hands and did a good job of keeping his feet under him and playing inside-out. He did get caught with inside moves once or twice but was able to recover well enough.

In the running game, Wright continued to be an impactful drive blocker for the Bears. Not many offensive tackles bring the type of force he does off the line of scrimmage. While he can still clean up his technique and play with more control, the raw power and maniacal style works for him.

Overall, I was thrilled to see how Wright was moving coming out of the bye week. His mobility and burst seem improved, which could be a big boost for the Bears offensive line. There were a handful of plays where he looked lost, but that could be said about every Bears offensive lineman. I wonder how much that has to do with play-calling.

Wright's season block success rate of 82.37% ranks second on the team. He's recorded an above-average rep on 28.35% of snaps, ranking second on the team. Meanwhile, Wright has recorded negative reps on 17.6% of plays, which is second-best on the team.

2. Teven Jenkins - Left Guard

Previous Rank: 2 (no change)

Teven Jenkins remains in second with a 65.7 blocking grade (slightly above average). Jenkins continued to trend in the right direction before exiting the game due to injury (twice). He put together another strong effort in Week 8 but missed the end of the game after suffering another injury (knee).

In pass protection, Jenkins was sloppy at times but showed the ability to recover more often than not. His power and anchor were on display a decent amount. Daron Payne tested those traits, but Jenkins held up well for the most part. He got beat with speed a few times by Johnny Newton, but he managed a good day overall.

As a run blocker, Jenkins was the motor on multiple combo blocks that drove defenders five-plus yards downfield. His power is evident, and he's a force to be reckoned with on the inside. Again, his technique got sloppy here and there, but his brute force made up for it.

Overall, Jenkins played a good game for the Bears. His power helps to cover for Coleman Shelton's undersized nature. Hopefully his injury status is manageable because losing him could be a big loss for this unit.

Jenkins' block success rate of 83.29% ranks first on the team. He's recorded an above-average rep on 25.5% of snaps while recording negative reps on 16.7% of plays. Jenkins is fourth on the team in above-average play rate but has the lowest rate of below-average plays.

3. Braxton Jones - Left Tackle

Previous Rank: 4 (+1)

The Bears starting left tackle, Braxton Jones, comes in third with a 60.0 blocking grade (average). Jones only played 18 snaps against the Commanders before exiting with a knee injury. He's considered week-to-week going forward.

Jones looked solid in his pass-protection and run-blocking reps before leaving the game. It was a similar performance to what we'd seen in the previous weeks. I'm always left wanting more from Jones, but his ability was sorely missed after he left the game, especially in pass protection.

There wasn't much to harp on in Jones' snaps before the injury. He generally did his job out there with a few instances of earlier hand usage in pass protection. I wanted to see a more consistent push as a run blocker, but that's never been his strength.

Jones' block success rate of 79.35% is fourth on the team. He has recorded above-average reps 24.13% of the time, ranking sixth on the team. His negative rep rate of 20.6% also ranks fourth on the team.

4. Matt Pryor - Right Guard

Previous Rank: 3 (-1)

Matt Pryor comes in fourth with a 59.8 blocking grade (average). Pryor had a rough game Sunday against the Commanders. I've been saying for a few weeks now that his lack of speed would bite him at some point, and it was an issue in this game.

In pass protection, Pryor's limited ability to recover was used against him. The Commanders boast two plus athletes with plus hand fighting ability inside between Payne and Newton, and they got the best of Pryor a handful of times. Additionally, there were a handful of times when the Bears asked Pryor to reach a gap to a gap and a half against those athletic defensive tackles. I'm not sure that's a winning strategy for the plus-sized guard.

As a run blocker, Pryor had a decent dose of powerful blocks when pairing up with Darnell Wright. That duo continues to move people consistently. However, the Bears did ask Pryor to reach and hit some more athletic blocks, which he just might not be able to execute. When executing solo blocks off the line of scrimmage, Pryor's power wasn't up to expectation. He had a hard time gripping the Commanders' quicker hand fighters.

Overall, this game highlighted some of Pryor's weaknesses more than in recent weeks. We knew this would happen at some point; I just hope the game plan next week does a better job of aligning his skill set with what he's asked to do.

On the season, Pryor's block success rate of 79.14% ranks fifth. He recorded above-average reps 24.85% of the time, ranking fifth on the team. His negative rep rate of 20.9% comes in at fifth. Overall, you live with a boom-bust nature when Pryor is on the field. But that's still better than a player who busts often without providing much boom.

5. Bill Murray - Left Guard

Previous Rank: 5 (no change)

I have Bill Murray slotted into the fifth spot here despite posting the best grade on the team at 73.6 (Good). I knocked him down the rankings due to the limited sample size (42 snaps).

Murray was placed on injured reserve with a pectoral injury after the Commanders game, which makes me want to cry. He only played two snaps in that game and looked awesome in that limited action. I'm hopeful that Murray can carve out a role on next year's team, but I have my concerns about relying on a 28-year-old guard who's never started in his career. We'll see how it goes. I'll be rooting for him.

Murray's block success rate of 81.82% ranks second on the team. He recorded an above-average rep on 36.36% of snaps while recording negative reps on 18.2% of plays. He's first on the team in above-average play rate and has the second-lowest rate of below-average plays. I'm going to remove Murray from this list next week as he won't be returning from injured reserve.

6. Nate Davis - Right Guard

Previous Rank: 7 (+1)

Nate Davis ranks sixth on the Bears, posting an overall grade of 54.9 (poor). Davis is in the dog house with the Bears turning to Bill Murray and Doug Kramer when they needed snaps in recent games.

Davis has a block success rate of 77.27%, ranking seventh on the team. He's recorded above-average reps 23.48% of the time, which is the seventh-best rate on the team. Davis has recorded negative reps 22.7% of the time, the seventh-best rate on the team. His overall grade takes an extra hit with three penalties on only 142 snaps.

Overall, I still see Davis as being a starting-caliber talent. It's just a question of how well he executes the assignments, plays with urgency, and shows good football IQ. As much as I want to believe he can flip a switch, I struggle to envision him suddenly becoming more consistent. Considering how his opportunities have dried up, I think the Bears agree.

7. Coleman Shelton - Center

Previous Rank: 6 (-1)

Coleman Shelton's grade comes in at 54.8 (below average), ranking seventh on the team. Shelton had his share of struggles against the Commanders on Sunday. It was a generally average showing for him when weighed against his previous games in a Bears jersey. Week 8 was better than his games against the Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Rams but not as good as his games against the Carolina Panthers or Jaguars.

When Shelton could lean on help from the offensive guards, he was perfectly passable. However, the Commanders did a good job of separating him from his help and forcing one-on-ones along the interior to get him matched up with the likes of Daron Payne and Johnny Newton. There were a handful of nice blitz pickups from Shelton, mostly against blitzing linebackers.

Shelton showed some nice hand usage against bigger defenders to slow them down, but there's only so much he can do when he's outmatched with power and stuck one-on-one. When asked to get out in space and execute second-level blocks, Shelton does a good job for the most part. While I want to see him maintain those blocks better, he does enough to execute the play design.

Shelton's block success rate of 78.43% ranks sixth on the team. He has recorded an above-average rep on 20.45% of snaps, which ranks eighth on the team. Meanwhile, he has recorded a negative rep on 21.6% of snaps, ranking sixth on the team.

8. Ryan Bates - Right Guard

Previous Rank: 8 (no change)

Ryan Bates ranks eighth with a grade of 45 (Bad). In Week 1, I saw a player who was limited with his body mechanics and less able to reach blocks on time. But, that was one game with an entire offensive line he never saw live reps with. He seemed very assignment-sound but somewhat limited in his ability to win those assignments. All of those reps came at right guard.

Bates' block success rate of 74.29% ranks eighth on the team. He's recorded an above-average rep on 8.6% of snaps, ranking last by a wide margin. Further, he's recorded negative reps on 25.7% of snaps, the second-highest rate on the team. I'm interested to see Bates at center once he returns from injury. His anchor and play strength have to be better than Coleman Shelton's, but I question how much his presence would improve the offensive line.

9. Kiran Amegadjie - Left Tackle

Previous Rank: N/A

Kiran Amegadjie was forced into action against the Commanders after Braxton Jones went down with a knee injury. It was a rollercoaster of a performance from the rookie, who displayed a combination of promising upside and the need for continued development. It should be noted that this was the first game Amegadjie had played in over a year.

His foot speed, length, strength, and aggressive hands were on display. He showed quick feet to mirror and a nice inside-out approach in pass protection. However, Amegadjie was inconsistent, getting beaten around the corner a handful of times. He was sometimes too careful to protect inside and showed a tendency to stop his feet at contact, giving up the outside rush lane.

Amegadjie did show the ability to recover with quick feet, pushing the rusher up the pocket more often than not. But he ceded quick pressure around the corner a few times. Amegadjie appeared to have issues picking up blitzes, allowing free runners up the B-gap. That will need to be cleaned up the next time he sees the field, otherwise coordinators will pepper him with additional pressure.

There were multiple occasions where Amegadjie misunderstood his assignment as a run blocker. It's understandable for a third-round rookie rushed into action mid-game, but those miscues need to be cleaned up. His aggression showed on the tape but got him in trouble once or twice.

Overall, I came away excited for things to come from Amegadjie while also feeling like the product on the field wasn't good enough. That was in line with my expectations for him when he entered the game. If Braxton Jones can't play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, I hope Larry Borom can step in. If not, I'll be excited to see how quickly Amegadjie can grow but nervous about whether the offense is limited due to how raw he is.

Amegadjie's block success rate of 67.44% ranks last on the team. He recorded an above-average rep on 25.58% of snaps, ranking third on the team. Further, he recorded negative reps on 32.6% of snaps, the highest rate on the team.

Final Thoughts

Through Week 8, the Bears' best five offensive linemen are Darnell Wright, Teven Jenkins, Braxton Jones, Matt Pryor, and Bill Murray. With Murray being placed on injured reserve, the next best player is Nate Davis. The issue with that, though, is none of those six players can play center. The pivot continues to be an issue for the Bears despite efforts to bring in stopgaps this offseason.

Chicago's offensive line had a rough day against the Commanders. The play-calling didn't do the unit many favors, asking it to move and cover large spaces more often than in previous weeks. It almost felt like Shane Waldron reverted to what he was doing the first few weeks of the season.

The players deserve blame when they play poorly, too. Part of the problem is certainly the talent level, especially on the interior. But a good offense knows what its players can do and asks them to execute within their abilities. We didn't see a lot of that on Sunday. The team is on to the Cardinals in Week 9.