The Bears revamped their interior offensive line starters, but who plays behind them?
This next training camp battle is probably one of the most important ones for the Chicago Bears‘ 2025 season, and it’s getting very little attention from fans and the media.
We all know that Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles went out and revamped the interior of the Chicago Bears’ offensive line. They traded for guard Joe Thuney, they traded for guard Jonah Jackson, and they went out and signed center Drew Dalman.
The Bears’ starting offensive line is vastly improved, but their depth is not, and their depth is what saved the team last season.
Last season, keep in mind that the starting interior was set to be Teven Jenkins, Ryan Bates, and Nate Davis. The depth behind those guys was Matt Pryor, Bill Murray, and Coleman Shelton. Both Pryor and Shelton became decent starters for the team while Murray filled in and played nicely before he was injured as well.
This season, the Bears have plenty of quality across the starting interior, far better than what it was last season, but behind them, there are serious question marks.
Let’s first look at roster construction. Most teams keep 9 offensive linemen on the 53-man roster; 8 is usually a little slim, and 10 is usually quite excessive.
Let’s enter this conversation with the expectation that the Bears, too, will go with 9 linemen. Let’s also assume that Braxton Jones, Ozzy Trapilo, and Kiran Amedgadjie all make the 53-man roster. That leaves two remaining spots on the 53-man roster. Let’s look at the contenders.
The Bears have six players vying for the two spots. Ricky Stromberg, whom they picked up last season and placed on the practice squad. They have Jordan McFadden, who they claimed off waivers from the LA Chargers. We all know Doug Kramer well. We know they have their rookie from Michigan State, Luke Newman. They have fan favorite Bill Murray. And let’s not forget Ryan Bates as well.
Let’s start with Bates, who has zero guaranteed money left on his deal and continues to struggle to not only stay healthy, but get healthy. Bates has explored options all offseason on how to help his chronic injury issues and wasn’t able to participate in OTAs or training camp. You have to start to wonder if Bates can be relied on at all, and if this injury pushes him to the waiver wire.
If Bates isn’t able to make the 53, the Bears need a backup center. Of the players that can do that, we have Stromberg, we have Kramer, and the Bears could work Newman at center and see how he performs there.
Stromberg is just 24 and was a 3rd round pick in 2023 by the Washington Commanders, but after suffering a knee injury in November of his rookie season, the Commanders waived him in August of 2024 before the season began.
The question with Stromberg is, who is he on the other side of the knee injury? Can he recover and start developing into the center that most of the NFL thought he could be? Or has that knee injury hampered Stromberg enough moving forward, where he’s not going to be able to play at a high level on an NFL team?
My stance is that Newman most likely finds himself on the team’s practice squad this year. I think Newman needs to add strength; his tape wasn’t anything spectacular, and if the Bears do try to convert him to center, he may need some extra time to figure that out.
The default selection is Doug Kramer. If nobody else steps up, the job becomes Kramer’s. Kramer also, theoretically, can play guard as well, as he did last year, so Kramer has the versatility to be a backup IOL that teams need.
If one of the other players steps up, I think they win the job. I think the Bears are almost looking for a different backup center than Kramer, but they know with Kramer, they at least have a body on the roster if Dalman gets injured.
I think both Stromberg and Newman can safely slide to the practice squad, but if Bates doesn’t make the roster, I think he’s just outright released.
That still leaves Bill Murray and Jordan McFadden vying for the other spot on the 53. Murray has become a fan favorite after a strong performance against the Carolina Panthers, but an injury shut down his season.
McFadden was a 5th-round pick in 2023, but of course, we know Jim Harbaugh loves the offensive line and wants his offensive line, so when he came in, McFadden wasn’t what he was looking for, and he sent him packing after the season.
McFadden and Murray battling it out for a spot on the 53 should be interesting and will be a fun one to watch all throughout training camp and during preseason games.
How does this play out? I’m going to say that Bates is released, and both Stromberg and Newman end up on the practice squad, and Kramer earns the backup center spot on the 53. Personally, I’ll be pulling for Stromberg, who I was a big fan of coming out of college, but if the Commanders are willing to release him post-injury after just one season, you have to think it’s quite serious and one he may not overcome.
At the other spot, I’m going to guess that McFadden earns the spot and Bill Murray is waived, the Bears hope to slide him to the practice squad, but one of the other 31 teams scoops Murray up and the Bears lose him outright.
I have a feeling, if it plays out like that, Bears fans will revolt, and you will see a lot of unhappy fans upset on social media and the radio call-in shows.
One other note that should at least be considered, if Kiran Amegadjie struggles this training camp and in preseason, the Bears could decide to release Amegadjie, keep Trapilo or Jones as the swing tackle, and keep an extra interior lineman.
This should be a fun one to watch, and it’s wide open as to how the dust will settle and who will earn a spot on the roster.