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Bears 2024 position preview: Offensive line

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The following is the fifth of nine position previews in advance of training camp.

Continuity should benefit a Bears offensive line that features four returning starters in left tackle Braxton Jones, left guard Teven Jenkins, right guard Nate Davis and right tackle Darnell Wright.

A 2022 fifth-round draft pick out of Southern Utah, Jones not only started all 17 games as a rookie but was the only Bears player on either side of the ball to play every snap. Last year he sat out six contests with a neck injury but returned for the final nine games.

Pro Football Focus identified Jones as one of five NFL offensive linemen in position to have a breakout 2024 season, with Sam Monson writing: "With a new quarterback behind him, Jones may look significantly better in Year 3 and will hopefully be healthy once again, showing a true ceiling of what he can become at this level."

No Bears player made greater strides in 2023 than Jenkins, who excelled at both the left and right guard positions. Due to his performance as a run blocker and pass protector, ChicagoBears.com selected him as the Bears' Most Improved Player.

"I'm really proud of the man and player that Teven is becoming," offensive line coach Chris Morgan said last year. "His focus and consistency were evident to everyone in the program this year. He is an enforcer on the field whose play style has helped us build a strong foundation for the future."

Davis started all 11 games he played last season in his first year with the Bears. He spent his first four NFL seasons with the Titans, starting 54 of 55 games he played after arriving as a third-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Charlotte.

Chosen by the Bears with the 10th choice in last year's draft out of Tennessee, Wright was named to the Pro Football Writers of America NFL All-Rookie Team. He established himself as a core piece of the offense, starting all 17 games and playing 99.56% of the snaps, the most of any Bears player on offense or defense.

In search of a new center this offseason, the Bears added veterans Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton. They traded a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Bills in exchange for Bates, who appeared in 73 games with 19 starts the past five seasons for Buffalo. In 2022, he opened all 15 games he played in.

In one of Ryan Poles' first moves as Bears general manager in March 2022, he signed Bates to a four-year offer sheet. But the Bills matched the offer and retained him.

Shelton signed with the Bears in March after appearing in 73 contests with 32 starts the last five seasons with the Rams. He was a full-time starter the past two years, opening all 13 games he played in 2022 and all 17 contests in 2023. Shelton entered the NFL in 2018 with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent from Washington and also spent part of his rookie year on the Cardinals practice squad.

The Bears also bolstered their offensive line during the offseason by selecting Kiran Amegadjie in the third round of the draft. Amegadjie started all 24 games he played the past three seasons at Yale, opening 10 contests in both 2021 and 2022 before a quad injury that required surgery limited him to four games last season.

He was named first-team All-Ivy League each of the last two years at left tackle, allowing no sacks on 411 pass blocking snaps. In 2021, he was selected honorable mention All-Ivy League after starting 10 games at right guard.

Veterans who will provide depth and competition in training camp this summer are Larry Borom, Ja'Tyre Carter, Aviante Collins, Doug Kramer Jr. and Bill Murray.

Other newcomers are veterans Jerome Carvin, Jake Curhan and Matt Pryor and undrafted rookie Theo Benedet.

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