Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Bears offensive tackle Teven Jenkins has missed three straight practices since the start of training camp last week.
All head coach Matt Eberflus would say is that Jenkins is “working through something with trainers” and that he is “day-to-day.”
Eberflus was careful not to say whether Jenkins had an injury or not, but it’s hard not to try and connect the dots given his history. After all, Jenkins missed most of last summer with a back injury that eventually required surgery and forced him to miss most of his rookie season.
But, according to David Kaplan of ESPN 1000 and NBC Sports Chicago, it’s not an injury that’s the concerning thing with Jenkins.
“From what I’m hearing, it’s not a serious injury,” Kaplan said Saturday. “What I’m hearing is that there’s a high level of disconnect between Teven and the new coaching staff, especially Chris Morgan, the new offensive line coach.”
When general manager Ryan Poles met with the media for the first time back in January, he singled out just one offensive lineman: Jenkins. So what’s to blame for this disconnect?
“As one person who would know close to the team said to me, ‘He’s their most talented lineman,'” Kaplan said. “But I’m also hearing he’s wildly immature.”
It’s certainly been an eventful offseason for Jenkins, who started the spring at right tackle with the first-team. But something happened where he found himself working with the second-team while Larry Borom filled his starting right tackle role with rookie Braxton Jones getting a look at left tackle. It lasted for the remainder of OTAs and mandatory minicamp.
When the team gathered on the field for their first training camp practice last Wednesday, Jenkins was still with the second-team. The Bears said they were looking at Jenkins as a potential swing tackle. But he’s missed the three practices that followed.
If it is a maturity thing with Jenkins, you hope he and the Bears can find some common ground. Especially if they consider him to be their most talented offensive lineman.
