Could this pro-bowl offensive lineman be on his way to Chicago?
At this point, unless you have been living under a rock, you know that the Bears need offensive line help. They have to be better at literally every position of the line. Some of this help will come internally. They need Cody Whitehair, Larry Borom and/or Teven Jenkins to play better. For the last two, they have a lot of room for improvement since they were rookies last year.
With that being said, we all expect Ryan Poles to add at least 1 or 2 quality starters in free agency. While it would be great to sign Terron Armstead or Ryan Jensen, it may not be realistic. One player that is almost as good as them and has a real chance of coming to the Bears is offensive guard Laken Tomlinson.
Yesterday, Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns of theathletic.com mentioned him as a potential pickup for Ryan Poles. They have a good point. First of all, the 49ers have no shot at franchise tagging him. While they would like to do whatever it takes to keep him around in NFL free agency, the franchise tag isn't a plausible option. It simply does not make sense for their cap situation.
Tomlinson is a great player. He just turned 30 and he is coming off his first pro bowl. His PFF grade was 76, which is really great for an offensive guard. He is one of the best at his position. The experts over at Pro Football Focus suggested a three-year deal worth $27 million would be something realistic coming to his way. If you ask me, it would be an amazing deal for a team that needs interior offensive line help like the Bears.
Here he is manhandling Von Miller:
