The Bears will be without their swiss-army offensive lineman moving forward. The Raiders announced on Thursday that they signed Alex Bars.
Bars initially joined the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2019, and played guard, center and tackle during his tenure. The Bears turned to Bars as an extra blocker in certain sets, as well. In his three years with the team, Bars played in 38 games, starting 11 of them.
Ryan Poles implied the Bears’ offensive line would look different in 2022, and there’s already been some turnover. In addition to letting Bars sign with the Raiders, Poles opted to let James Daniels head to the Steeler instead of re-signing him. It hasn’t been all subtraction for Poles, however. He added versatile interior lineman Lucas Patrick earlier this week. It’s unclear how many more moves Poles will make on the O-line, but he’ll likely add one or two fresh faces to the group in addition to Patrick.
Besides Patrick, Poles has also signed defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, linebacker Nicholas Morrow, re-signed long snapper Patrick Scales and tendered Sam Mustipher, Jesper Horsted and Lachavious “Pig” Simmons.