Nate Davis on bringing his physicality to Chicago |
CHICAGO - The front office for the Bears has been hard at work with free-agent acquisitions. Among the many needs for Chicago is the offensive line, which they started to address with the addition of offensive lineman Nate Davis. Davis brings not only his offensive line skills but also fits the culture that the front office is trying to establish.
“(I’m) someone who is very determined, who is one resilient guy, that’s the easiest way I can say it,” Davis said. “A lot of things have been thrown at me, but every single time, I’ve accomplished what I needed to accomplish to get to where I need to get to.” Part of the adversity he faced is constant coaching changes. In college, he had five different offensive line coaches and now, he is being faced with his second in the NFL. He has prevailed nonetheless. In fact, the different coaches helped improve his overall performance since he had the opportunity to learn different things from different offensive minds. “Just the dedication and the consistency it takes day-in and day-out to become successful, especially in this league, in the NFL. Nothing is given to you; everything’s earned,” Davis said. “It’s going to be fun.” Davis played the vast majority of all of the offensive snaps in his four years with the Tennessee Titans. He played the least amount of snaps in his rookie year at 91%. He’s also participated on special teams at little; however, he never played more than 20% of the snaps. Still, he’s a versatile player that brings a lot to the Bears. Further, he likes the physicality he has seen out of the Bears’ offensive line and is used to being a part of a running team, blocking for running back Derrick Henry, who became one of eight players in the history of the NFL to rush for 2,000 yards or more in a season in 2021. “Obviously, just watching the O-Line (the physicality) pops out of the film every single time you watch it,” Davis said. One thing that Davis will have to get used to, and is looking forward to, is having a physical and dynamic quarterback. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill fits the Titans’ scheme, but he isn’t really the running type, with only 98 rushing yards last season. Justin Fields is a young player and adds to the physicality of the team as a whole and the strength of the running game. “This is someone who you want to block for, play for, and he’s a leader, and he’s just easy to be around, just by talking to him just for a little bit today,” Davis said. “So, yeah, I’m excited. I’m definitely looking forward to it and, you know, I’m just happy to say he’s my quarterback.”
Just one offensive lineman is not going to fix the problem for Chicago; Fields was sacked 55 times, and if he wasn’t such an amazing runner, surely that number could have been greater than 60. With the No. 9 overall pick in the draft, it makes even more sense to draft an offensive lineman. Since Davis is a right guard and Larry Borom is a left tackle, Peter Skoronski out of Northwestern could make a lot of sense as a left guard.
Andrew Vorhees out of Southern California, could also potentially be a good pick in a later round since he’s played a variety of positions on the offensive line. He tore his ACL at the NFL Combine, so he would be a pick for the future since he will not be able to play in the 2022 season. The Bears have been making a lot of decisions to benefit them now and in the future, so this pick would make a lot of sense for Chicago.
