The Chicago Bears are desperately trying to add talent to their offense to help QB Justin Field reach his full potential. One area they added talent to was at right guard with Nate Davis coming from the Titans.
Nate Davis comes to the Chicago Bears to take over starting at the right guard position. Davis skipped voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) which made up a total of eight practices but was on hand for mandatory mini-camp.
Nate Davis signed a three-year contract to take over for Teven Jenkins who was moved to left guard. Jenkins was graded out as the third-best offensive guard overall in the 2022 season by ProFootballFocus. The question is does signing Davis elevate the guard position and then the offensive line as a whole?
Run blocking:
Nate Davis tallied a run-blocking grade of 69.8 in 2022. That grade was well below Teven Jenkins’ run-blocking grade of 82.2 and slightly better than Cody Whitehair’s 62.3 run-blocking grade. So Nate Davis overall upgrades the offensive line hopes by improving the Chicago Bears’ guard tandem by slightly upgrading the run blocking. Whitehair moving to center, slightly upgrades that position from a PFF grade standpoint.
Pass blocking:
As a pass blocker, Nate Davis was slightly better than Teven Jenkins grading out with a 66.8 pass-blocking grade to Jenkins’ 65.9 pass-blocking grade. That difference likely won’t be a noticeable enough upgrade to the overall offensive line.
Both Jenkins and Davis missed time with injury in 2022. Davis missed five games and has comparable overall snaps played to Jenkins in terms of pass-blocking snaps. Davis had 385 pass-blocking snaps to Jenkins’ 304. Jenkins allowed two sacks, Davis three sacks, Jenkins allowed zero QB hits, Davis one QB hit, Davis allowed 14 pressures, and Jenkins allowed 12 pressures.
Overall:
The hope is Davis boosts the overall stability on the offensive line. Davis wasn’t better than Jenkins at right guard, was worse as a run blocker and slightly better overall as a pass blocker. The biggest concern however is Davis a one-year wonder as an offensive guard.
He finally played well in his contract year after grading out in a highly inconsistent manner as a pass blocker his first three years in the league. His first three years in the NFL as a pass blocker all graded out below 60.0, with grades of 49.2 in 2021, 52.6 in 2020 and 44.5 in 2019. Those overall grades are some of the worst in the league during that span and Davis didn’t do himself any favors by missing the OTAs he did.
Nate Davis is going to need to prove himself a consistent player as the starter at right guard because if he reverts to his previous level of play he’ll be on par with the inconsistency that Sam Mustipher showed at center which became an overall liability to the rest of the offensive line.
It’s a huge gamble to make from GM Ryan Poles to assume that Davis has turned the corner in his development and become a reliable starter in the NFL. Reliable starters don’t typically miss OTAs. voluntary or not.
Nate Davis will have to prove he’s a consistent performer at the right guard spot or he could be yet another failed free agency gamble from the Bears GM.
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