Key reserve’s departure to Philadelphia challenges Bears’ depth
One of the strange twists to last year’s disastrous Bears offensive line effort was how some of the backups outperformed starters.
These weren’t necessarily players considered as potential starters some day in the future but more stop-gap or long-term league backups.
The Bears lost another one of those in free agency Thursday when Matt Pryor agreed to terms with the Philadelphia Eagles, his former team.
They easily could have retained Pryor if they had wanted him back, so it would appear they were moving on now that they’re in a different blocking scheme. But Pryor did serve a purpose.
The 30-year-old, 6-foot-7, 332-pounder didn’t tear it up as a pass blocker with seven sacks and 24 penalties allowed. The seven sacks allowed left him behind 130 out of 135 guards in avoiding sacks, according to Pro Football Focus. Yet, PFF gave him the second-best pass blocking grade of his career.
Pryor wound up playing a career-high 1,005 snaps, 895 at right guard, with 15 starts after starter Nate Davis has completely washed out. Pryor was on for one play at left tackle and 59 at right tackle.
The Eagles just made a SNEAKY GOOD move in NFL Free Agency by bringing back OL Matt Pryor.
Jason Kelce just shared his concerns this morning about the Eagles OL depth. Pryor will help there. He played very well in 15 starts last season for the Bears at guard.
Drafted by the… pic.twitter.com/IiPKZO9D3c
— Chase Senior (@Chase_Senior) March 27, 2025
Another backup guard who had to play because of Teven Jenkins’ injuries, Bill Murray, had a PFF grade even higher than Pryor in a brief stint before a season-ending injury.
The need is there to find at least one more backup guard in the draft, however. Signing another lineman in free agency is possible but the Bears are down to only $9.2 million in effective cap space available according to Overthecap.com.
Pryor had started out in the league with the Eagles, then was with the Colts and 49ers before his one Bears season.
ESPN’s new NFL Mock Draft gives Ben Johnson and Bears’ offense the perfect addition
We’re almost there. In a mere few weeks, the words ‘mock’ and ‘draft’ won’t even exist to you anymore – you’ll be free of the burden of shuttle runs and cone drills and arm length forever*. (*Like, four months.) And when that day comes, I’ll be there waiting to celebrate hand-in-hand with you.
RELATED: 3 realistic mock trades the Bears could pull off in 2025 NFL Draft
But we’re not there yet. The final stretch run of mock drafts still lie ahead of us, and it’ll take a collective group effort to fight our way through to the end. In the meantime, however, how’d you like to daydream about Ashton Jeanty on the Bears? There are worse ways to spend your time. ESPN’s newest seven-round (??) dropped on Thursday, and in it, the Bears land Jeanty with their first-round pick. They don’t even have to trade up to get him either! The Ben Johnson effect is very real. Here’s the argument for Jeanty, and tbh, I see no lies told.
Ashton Jeanty in Ben Johnson’s offense is a dream come true for the Bears
“This is a best-case scenario for the Bears. Jeanty can do the same things Jahmyr Gibbs did for Ben Johnson’s offense in Detroit, but with more power. Jeanty is an elite contact balance runner who does not go down on first contact. He can create his own rushing lanes and has the speed to produce chunk plays … Jeanty led the FBS with 2,750 all-purpose yards and could team with D’Andre Swift to give the Bears a fearsome run game. That, along with an interior offensive line that was bolstered with the acquisitions of guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and center Drew Dalman, can further aid second-year quarterback Caleb Williams’ development”
