Why Bears Offensive Line Upgrades Could Come After Round 1

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One name keeps coming up in mock drafts or projection few could have expected in the days prior to Senior Bowl.

It did again on Monday with the release of a double-team mock draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Field Yates.

Another analysis released Monday brought attention to this player and his postiion.

The player is Yale tackle Kiran Amegadjie.

His name first came up in connection to the Bears with a Halas Hall visit, but not for a top 30. He was there on a local visit as he is a Hinsdale Central grad.

Amegadjie would rate among the better offensive line prospects in the draft, maybe not a first-rounder but among the best. However, he had a left quad muscle tear end his 2023 season early so it shut down some of the possible buzz over him if he had been able to work out at the combine or even a pro day.

In Monday’s double-team mock by Kiper and Yates, Amegadjie went to the Bears at No. 75 in the third round. This would indeed be a bold pick considering the Bears had already gone for offense on their first two selections with Caleb Williams and receiver Rome Odunze, and they have a need at edge rusher.

It would be easy to see them taking him, however. Amegadjie came up again in Monday’s Pro Football Focus in-depth offensive line evaluation. Of all the tackles in the draft, Amegadjie graded out the best for his red zone performance. In the most critical portion of the field, they found no one in this draft better at tackle.

“The powerful tackle earned a phenomenal 92.4 PFF run-blocking grade in the red zone, powered by an insane 35% impact block rate,” PFF’s Mason Cameron wrote. “Amegadjie was similarly impressive in pass protection, surrendering zero pressures when attacking inside the opposing 20-yard line.”

Amegadjie didn’t even start playing high school football until his sophomore year and is still sharpening his skills. He has a massive wingspan of 85 1/2 inches, which put him in the top 6% in terms of players who were measured or participated at comebines, according to Mockdraftable.com. His arm length of 36 1/8 inches is top 5%. He is 6-foot-5, 3/8, 323.

The study done by PFF included several surprises, mainly that several other tackles outshined both Notre Dame’s Joe Alt and Olu Fashanu of Penn State. Alt did get accolades as the best pass blocker without play action at tackle.

However, the tackle who came out with the most praise was Houston’s Patrick Paul, a 6-7 1/2, 331-pounder with an 86 1/4-inch wingspan and 36 1/4-inch arms. He graded as the best blocker in true pass sets, on five-step and seven-step drops and on late downs.

“Third and fourth downs are undoubtedly crucial situations where protection breakdowns can effectively swing the momentum,” Cameron wrote. “None excelled more than Paul in these late-down scenarios, where he contributed an 89.9 PFF pass-blocking grade, allowing just a 3.4% pressure rate.”

The other tackle who showed up big in run blocking was one the Bears have looked at, Taliese Fuaga from Oregon State. He got top grades in zone run-blocking as well as gap run-blocking.

“No matter how you cut it, Fuaga is a force in the run game,” wrote Cameron.

Many regard Fuaga as a guard, though.

The Bears could use either, possibly guard more but they would be up grading at tackle with someone so effective.

Like Amegadjie, these two tackles are not graded as first-rounders on the NFL mock draft database big board, although Fuaga most often does come out as a first-rounder in many individual mock drafts done by analysts. Kiper, in fact, has him grade as the 19th best overall prospect.

However, all three show the Bears do not need to be thinking about upgrading the offensive line with their ninth pick and that a trade down would afford them the chance to gain picks and still find a strong blocker.

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