Post by JABF on Sept 5, 2022 9:46:56 GMT -6
The offensive line position at the NFL level is not an easy transition from the college game. It is not at all unusual for players to struggle their rookie season. It has always been the case. Some pick it up quicker than others. The Bears seem to believe they can develop this player - and felt it was worth investing in him. Let's hope they're right. The guy is a Bear now and we should be pulling for him to be a success here. We've followed football long enough to know many many many players who sucked their rookie season but had solid careers. For that matter I can think, just off the top of my head, players in the Hall of Fame who struggled initially. It didn't mean they had learning disabilities or lacked motivation - it just took a bit to develop. It happens.
Will this guy make it? I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see. He seems worth a waiver claim to me, if the Bears truly believe he has a high ceiling.
I agree that one year is not a huge deal, but, as I’ve said, that’s not what worries me. It’s that they will drag this out too long before facing reality that they made a mistake. We’ve seen that Poles is replacing Pace recruits with his own, I am thinking Whitehair is next to go in favor of Leatherwood. Morgan could double his pff passing blocking grade and that would only get him up to what butkus calls MEH level.
I wouldn't overthink this. The Bears can work with him this season, and then they will know what they truly have in him. Yesterday I was thinking back on how often OL need more than 1 season for things to begin to click for them. The only position that is really in that category is the QB position. Both require a lot of learning both mentally and technique/mechanic wise. Both. And the college game with the college schemes they run, are nothing like these guys play in the NFL (that goes for OL and QBs both). Things they get away with in college simply don't work in the NFL. Yesterday I was reading an article about an OL talking about this. It was another 1st round pick, David DeCastro. He said the learning curve for OL coming out of college is huge. Anyone who has followed OL over the years at the NFL level knows this. Late bloomers are pretty common. It has always been that way. Same with QBs. Guys like Favre, Steve Young, Troy Aikman... heck, even Peyton Manning threw more ints than TDs his rookie season... and this year it's Fields and Lawrence who played like crap as rookies. These are TOUGH positions to play well at the NFL level.
Here's the deal. I don't know if Leatherwood will be good or not... but the Bears believe he is worth investing this year into trying to unlock the freak-level talent he has. If they believe he's worth taking a flyer on, then hey, I'm all behind that. And as a Bears fan, I'm really hoping this works out. JMO.