Should the Bears move rookie Kiran Amegadjie into the starting offensive line?

Through two games, the Chicago Bears’ offensive line has been abysmal. Sure, they’ve been put through the ringer against two excellent defenses with respected playcallers, and nobody expected them to be among the league’s best offensive lines, but they weren’t supposed to be this bad either.

After their debacle on Sunday Night Football in which they gave up 36 pressures on 38 passing plays, some Bears fans have begun to wonder aloud if a shakeup to the starting rotation is needed. Could third-round rookie Kiran Amegadjie give this unit a much-needed boost?

The Bears drafted an O-Lineman with their next pick after Caleb and Rome. It might be time to see what Amegadjie can do.

— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) September 16, 2024

Who is Kiran Amegadjie?

A starting left tackle for the Yale Bulldogs in his last two years of college, Amegadjie was, in his own words, the most interesting prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. He’s got long arms and terrific athleticism for a guy his size (6-foot-5, 323 pounds at the NFL Combine), so it’s easy to understand why that may be true. Amegadjie has the potential to be the steal of his draft class, but only if his technique can catch up to his natural gifts.

Unfortunately, his last season in college ended prematurely with a quadriceps injury last October, one that required surgery. He spent most of the offseason rehabbing and didn’t practice until nearly the end of August.

A rookie coming back from injury will not solve the OL’s woes.

I love Amegadjie’s potential as much as the next guy, and I hope he becomes a long-term piece of Chicago’s offensive line, but he is far from being ready to start in the NFL.

Besides the aforementioned injury, which has kept him sidelined for nearly a full calendar year now, there’s the fact that his college experience came in the Ivy League. With all due respect to those players, those defenses have not prepared Amegadjie for the pass rushers he’ll see in the NFL. It’s a massive leap in ability and putting a rookie in that position, one that is still rehabbing an injury, would be malpractice.

We all want Chicago’s offensive line issues to work themselves out so Caleb Williams can have a fair shot at showing why he was the first overall pick, but change for the sake of change isn’t the answer. Right now, the best path forward is to stay the course and expect the current starters, all of whom are experienced NFL starters by now, to figure out what they need to do to improve.