Teven Jenkins appears to have the inside track to become the Chicago Bears’ starting right guard in Week 1. All things considered, this would make for an impressive glow-up for the second-year player.
Think about it — Jenkins has been demoted twice since the calendar turned from 2021 to 2022. First, he was moved off from left tackle to right tackle. Then, the Bears dropped him down to second-string status behind Larry Borom at right tackle. So to see Jenkins get work at right guard, move up the depth chart, start at the position in the preseason, and position himself to be a starter in Week 1 is a testament to perseverance.
However, one NFL insider isn’t totally sold on Jenkins even being with the Bears when the season kicks off.
Speculation kicked-up with this tweet from long-time Chicago reporter and current ESPN Chicago host Peggy Kusinski, who teases a Schefty bomb of sorts on her show with Dionne Miller (which you can listen to in its entirety here) from ESPN’s Football Fest:
And on the podcast, Schefter delivers this:
“I still think he’ll be traded,” Schefter said of Teven Jenkins. “My belief is that they’ll wind up trading him before the final roster cutdown day or right around there, if not before. My guess would be is that he’s not a Bear this season. And we’ll see where they move him, and what they get for him. It won’t be what they invested in him. But it’ll be something. … Or maybe they’re stuck with him and maybe they want to look at him at other positions. But I think they’ll move him.”
So, in other words, we have a local reporter sharing that the Bears are actively trying to trade Teven Jenkins. And we have a national insider publicly opining his belief that the Bears will move Jenkins before the start of the season.
Schefter speculates the Bears could get a fourth or fifth-round pick if they dealt Jenkins this offseason. And while that pales in comparison to what they traded to move up to take him in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, it would be more than the alternative of getting nothing.
I’m not sure dealing the most-talented player and potential starter at right guard (not to mention someone who’s looked the best of all the options thrown out there to this point) is the best idea for a Bears team that should be prioritizing protecting Justin Fields. But maybe this front office feels that strongly about Jenkins not being a long-term fixture with this team. After all, Jenkins has been moved off a position twice already this year. So I can’t dismiss the idea that the Bears would move him off the squad altogether.
With that being said, we’ll keep eyes on this situation that just won’t calm down.