The Chicago Bears’ 53-man roster and 16-player practice squad are set — for now. GM Ryan Pace and his staff made the difficult cutdown decisions over the last few days and arrived at the first iteration (which has already undergone some tweaks) of the 2021 Bears.
One of the notable roster moves was the placement of rookie offensive tackle Teven Jenkins on injured reserve. He’ll be eligible to return after three weeks, although it’s likely he’ll be out significantly longer than that.
Jenkins’ placement on injured reserve isn’t a surprise considering the back injury that forced him out of all training camp practices and required surgery to repair. Still, it magnifies the concerns surrounding Chicago’s offensive line.
The Bears will begin the year with 39-year-old Jason Peters at left tackle and Germain Ifedi at right tackle. It could be worse, but it could certainly be better too.
As for Jenkins’ long-term prognosis? Pace is confident the worst is behind his second-round pick.
“Without getting into details, he started having some pain down his leg — I think just from the nerve,” Pace said from Halas Hall on Wednesday. “The good thing about it? As soon as we did [the surgery], those symptoms went away. So we feel good about it. … And the good thing is, guys — just because he had a back surgery doesn’t mean he’s not going to have a good NFL career. We’re excited about the player, excited about where he’s heading. Now we feel we fixed the problem.”
Bears fans have every right to be cautiously optimistic about Jenkins. It wasn’t long ago that Chicago tried selling 2015 first-round pick Kevin White’s leg injury as shin splints. It later turned out to be a season-ending fracture.
Jenkins’ back concerns are nothing new. His final season at Oklahoma State was cut short because of his back, albeit a different injury. The Bears knew about it and remained undeterred on draft day, so much so that Pace traded up for his prized left tackle.
“We knew everything about his back coming out … everybody knew,” Pace said. “When he showed up for training camp he was experiencing different symptoms than he ever had in college, so we kind of worked through that. We tried to go through all of the natural processes … at the end of the day, it did require a surgery. It was a common surgery.”
It’s a leap of faith to call any back surgery for a 300-pound offensive tackle ‘common,’ but at this point, faith is all Bears fans can hold onto when it comes to Jenkins’ future.