When Ryan Poles entered the 2023 offseason, he knew he needed to beef up the offensive line. This was a pivotal year for Justin Fields and if Poles was going to get a proper assessment of his QB, he needed to give him some protection.
He liked what he had seen from Braxton Jones as a rookie, and Teven Jenkins had converted to guard and was playing quite well. The other three positions were a massive concern. Poles went out and made a strong push to sign 49ers tackle Mike McGlinchey, but the Denver Broncos eventually outbid him. That’s when he pivoted his attention to Nate Davis in free agency (3 years, $30 million with $20 million guaranteed) and landed tackle Darnell Wright in the first round of the draft.
I didn’t know a lot about Davis. I knew he was a solid player, but I also know solid players don’t usually hit free agency and the Tennessee Titans weren’t exactly in cap hell, so I decided to poke around the Titans organization and see what surfaced.
That led to this tweet that continues to be shared across the Twitter/X platform:
As I continued to poke around, the consensus was that Vrabel’s issues with Davis were his lack of availability. I heard that Davis doesn’t like to play through injuries, which caused issues with Vrabel and the staff.
I’ll admit, when I started hearing the reasons for Vrabel’s dislike of Davis, I thought to myself that Vrabel is an old-school ass-kicker from a bygone era. That’s probably related more to who Vrabel was than who Davis was.
My opinion was wrong.
I have tried to give Davis every benefit of the doubt about the time he missed last season. Everyone deals with personal tragedy differently, some people throw themselves back into work, and others can’t muster the energy to do anything at all.
I cut Davis a break, but for the 2024 season, there was no slack on the line. He had to step up and perform, and while it’s only early August, it’s time to call it what it is: Nate Davis is a sunk cost.
Whether this is who Davis always has been, or he’s just comfortable collecting his $20 million guaranteed from the Bears and walking away from football after this season. Regardless of what the reason is behind it, it’s clear Nate Davis doesn’t have any interest in playing football for the Chicago Bears (or anyone else for that matter).
The bigger question is, with the information that was easily available to me, how did Ryan Poles miss so badly?
Luke Steckel was with the Titans as an assistant coach from 2013 to 2022. He was there for the entirety of Nate Davis’ time in Tennessee and happened to come to the Bears as an assistant offensive line coach under Chris Morgan in 2023.
Steckel was hired in February. Davis was signed in March. Was Steckel consulted about Davis before signing him? Did he endorse the signing of Davis? If so, was that potentially one of the reasons that led to his dismissal after just one season? It may not have, to be fair to Steckel, the Bears replaced almost their entire offensive coaching staff, but they did retain Chris Morgan, but let his assistant go below him, which is a bit puzzling.
Regardless of how the process went back in March of 2023, there was information available to Poles and his team that he either ignored or didn’t bother to do enough background research to find out more about the player before he guaranteed him $20 million.
Fast-forwarding to 2024, the Bears are entering this season with a rookie quarterback and they need to keep him protected. Playing musical chairs with the offensive line as Nate Davis lightly pedals on a stationary bike is not going to have this unit ready in September.
It’s time for Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus to be bold.
It’s time to bench Nate Davis.
Not for two days. Not for two weeks. Permanently.
The Chicago Bears have a rookie quarterback. Caleb Williams needs time to bond with his center. Having a rotation of Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton is fine now, but within the next week or so, the Bears need to settle on a starting center and let Caleb work with him exclusively for a solid three to four weeks before the start of the regular season.
If the Bears commit to Bates at center, that means using someone like Matt Pryor with the starting line consistently when Davis sits out practice. The stronger option is to commit to Shelton as the starting center right now. Let Shelton and Williams start working exclusively now and build the chemistry they need.
That would kick Bates to right guard, and we know how much Poles loves Bates, as he’s been trying to acquire him since the day he stepped foot in Halas Hall.
Start Ryan Bates at right guard and let Nate Davis settle in as your backup right guard.
Is it an absolute waste to have an above-average interior offensive lineman on your bench, but if he has no motivation to be on the field, where else can he be?
A Bates-Davis combo may be your most talented duo, but it certainly isn’t the best option right now. A Shelton-Bates combo can hopefully stabilize the offensive line by week one.
There is no financial benefit to cutting Davis right now, and while it seems pointless to put him on the bench, a wildly overpaid unmotivated Davis as your backup right guard is still better than Ja’Tyre Carter.
It’s clear to everyone that the Bears are at their wit’s end with Davis. Eberflus’ comments about him make it very obvious. There’s no point in continuing this debacle. Put Davis on the bench and cut him at the end of the season.
Chase Claypool will always be at the top of the list of Ryan Poles’ failed acquisitions because he gave up what ended up being the 32nd overall pick for him. Davis only cost the Bears money. But if they continue to trot Davis out on the field when the games matter, it could cost the Bears a lot more than just cash.
