NEWSLETTER
The offseason roster churn that pushed Tommy Doles out the door has brought him back into the picture:
#Bears roster moves:
We have waived/injured DB Jomon Dotson and have signed free agent OL Tommy Doles.— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) May 16, 2019
Welcome back, Tommy!
The Bears announced the re-signing of the Northwestern University product on Thursday, then parting ways with waived/injured cornerback Jomon Dotson as a corresponding move.
In case you missed it when the Bears signed Doles on May 6, let’s re-visit what we said about him when he first signed with the team:
“Doles played his college ball at Northwestern, where he spent the last three seasons as the Wildcats’ starting right guard. In addition to earning All-Big Ten academic honors in each of the last three years, Doles was Consensus Third-team All-Big Ten as a junior in 2017 and named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by the conference’s coaches and media. Like Dalton, Doles has a prospect past worth digging into. Rivals.com listed Doles as a three-star recruit, while 247Sports listed him as Michigan’s second highest-rated offensive lineman and the state’s 12th best prospect overall.”
There is no such thing as having too many offensive lineman. So with that in mind, it’s good to have Doles in the fold. He has a unique prospect pedigree as a three-star recruit and a top-tier prospect in the state of Michigan, as well as some quality experience as a starting lineman in the Big Ten. Earning All-Big Ten honors on the field (Third-team All-Big Ten in 2017) and in the classroom (three-time All-Big Ten academic honors) is no small matter.
Doles is one of six rookie offensive linemen on the roster, so he’ll probably need to make some waves (and have some fortuitous bounces go his way) in order to make the season-opening 53-man roster. But we’re such a long way away from thinking about what that group will look like. Instead, it’s nice to have all that depth at a position that can always use it.
