Alex Leatherwood returns to the Bears roster but when will we see him?
Alex Leatherwood of the offensive line has been taken off the reserve/non-football illness list by the Bears. Leatherwood is currently permitted to participate in team practices but is not yet eligible to play. The Chicago Bears have a window of time to wait before he can rejoin the field in competitions.
Prior to being placed on the non-football illness list with what Ian Rapoport of NFL Network believed to be mononucleosis, Leatherwood had been a member of the team for two weeks, up until just after the season opener victory.
With Cody Whitehair’s knee injury in New York, the Chicago Bears’ offensive line took a significant hit. For some while, he won’t be around. So, the depth of the unit as a whole is still in doubt. They seem to be about to receive assistance, which is a blessing. Alex Leatherwood’s return to practice was subsequently revealed by the team, giving them the green light to activate him after the 21-day waiting period.
Alex Leatherwood returned to practice today, beginning a 21-day window to remove him from the reserve/non-football illness list.https://t.co/fGvtapvVDs
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 12, 2022
Before the start of the season, Ryan Poles made what was thought to be a low-risk, high-reward move by claiming Alex Leatherwood off of waivers. Even though many draft analysts graded Leatherwood for the second or third round of the 2021 draft, the Raiders chose him in the first round. He started the first game of the season at right tackle but failed in pass protection, allowing 18 pressures in four contests. In Week 5, the Raiders switched him to right guard, where he slightly improved.
The Bears have used an interior lineup with Lucas Patrick at left guard, Sam Mustipher at center, and Teven Jenkins at right guard because they won’t have left guard Cody Whitehair for a few weeks. We’ll see if Leatherwood can perform well at a guard position, freeing up Patrick to switch back to center as the organization has insisted they want to have the best mix of lineman throughout the season.
Beyond the possibility of a swing tackle, it is unknown what Leatherwood’s final function might be. When the Raiders realized he couldn’t play tackle, they used him at guard.
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