One thing I’ve grown to have an appreciation for is Matt Eberflus’ willingness to use the media to send a message to his players. The Chicago Bears head coach has done it in the past with Velus Jones Jr. and Chase Claypool. And now, it is Nate Davis’ turn in the line of fire.
Davis, the presumptive Bears starting right guard when things kick off in Week 1, might not be the starter if he can’t get out on the practice field and prove it. from Coach Flus from Tuesday’s press conference and it opened my eyes:
“If a person’s out for an extended period of time and the player that’s in that position is playing very well, at a starter level, and doing a good job there, then you create the competition. You say, ‘Hey, there’s a competition.’ People say you can’t lose a job because of injury. I don’t think that’s true. I think if the guy that’s playing there gives our team a good look and a good benefit for him being in that position, then it’s a competition. Or the other guy could take it over. That’s not just at guard. That’s at all positions.”
Wowzers. Most coaches tend to drive home that a player can’t (or won’t) lose their starting job due to an injury. But with this quote, Coach Eberflus goes out of his way to say that just because you’re assumed to be the starter doesn’t mean you can’t lose your gig while you’re on the sidelines dealing with an injury. The message should come across loud and clear to Nate Davis. And if it doesn’t, let me break it down in its simplest form: You’re skating on thin ice, buddy.
As a reminder, this is not the first time Eberflus has addressed the Nate Davis situation in a public manner. I’m re-sharing this quote from the Trib’s Dan Wiederer, which we cited in yesterday’s offensive line post:
“Availability is everything in this league. You’ve got t☂o be available to practice. And you’ve go to be able to go through hard in terms of doin💞g hard better during training camp. That’s all part of preparing for the first part of the season, being able to do that, to callous yourself. That’s your individual responsibility to the football team and when you’re not out there, guess what? That doesn’t happen.
“Availability is important at every p🐲osition. And sometimes guys get injured and that’s the way it goes. But they have 🍸to get back as fast as possible because, to me, there’s a lot of competition on this roster.”
Yeah, when your coach puts you on notice twice during training camp you better take heed. I hope Nate Davis is paying attention. Because if he isn’t, he might be on the outside looking in at a starter’s job surprisingly soon.
How will the Bears handle their Nate Davis problem?
The bad news is that Nate Davis, who signed a three-year contract worth up to $30 million last offseason, continues to be unavailable for team drills at Bears training camp practice. But unlike last year, at least we can follow up that bad news statement with the good news is that this team is better prepared to deal with Davis’ absences.
For starters, the Bears offensive line has far more depth now than it did at this time last year. Yes, injuries (including whatever Nate Davis is dealing with) are putting that dep൩th to the test. But maybe it is better to test it out duriꦰng training camp than it would be to have to throw backups to the wolves in the regular season.
During the offseason, Bears General Manager Ryan Poles added Ryan Bates via a trade with the Bills, then signed Matt Pryor and Jake Curhan as free agents. Bates, Pryor, and Curhan have starting experience at multiple positions from their previous stops in the NFL. So does returning swing tackle Larry Borom. Having a handful of backups who have starting experience isn’t something we should take for granted.
Plus, the team also drafted Kiran Amegadjie in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The Bears are slow-playing Amegadjie’s development because of a pre-existing injury that the rookie has been working back from since🐟 his time at Yale. But once he is a full-go, Amegadjie is someone who could be called🀅 upon by coaches to fill a role.
Maybe Nate Davis will pick up what his coach is putting down and get back onto the practice field as soon as he is healthy enough to do so. For what it’s worth, I found it encouraging that Davis was participating in walk-throughs. That counts as a step in the right direction. However, his continued absence when practice takes place is concerning. This was a problem last year, too. Albeit under different circumstances with Davis missing time while dealing with family matters. Nevertheless, we are two years into the Nate Davis era and haven’t gotten to see enough of the player at right guard to feel good about where he is going into the 2024 season.
