Bears Bolster O-Line with Trades for Thuney & Jackson

For the second time in a matter of hours, the Chicago Bears have made a move to improve their offensive line.

Chicago’s first move came on Tuesday — the Bears agreed to a trade with the Los Angeles Rams to acquire guard Jonah Jackson. Early Wednesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Chicago struck a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs for guard Joe Thuney. To acquire the two-time All-Pro, the Bears will reportedly send the Chiefs a 2026 fourth-round pick.

Thuney, 32, was a third-round pick of the New England Patriots in 2016. Thuney spent the first five years of his career with New England and was a starter for two Super Bowl-winning teams. Upon moving to Kansas City, the elite guard won two more Super Bowls. This past season, Thuney was tasked with making a late-season switch to left tackle. For his efforts, his teammates deemed him the team MVP.

While he is approaching his 33rd birthday, Thuney has been an incredibly consistent player throughout his career. The new Bear has missed two games in nine seasons and has started all 146 games that he has played. Over the past two years, Thuney has the highest pass block win rate in the NFL — winning a remarkable 97.8% of snaps.

Chicago entered the offseason with a clear need to improve its offensive line. Pass protection was one of the team’s biggest issues last season as rookie QB Caleb Williams was sacked a league-high 68 times. Three starters from last year’s offensive line are set for free agency — left guard Teven Jenkins, center Coleman Shelton and right guard Matt Pryor.

New head coach Ben Johnson enjoyed curating an offense in Detroit that featured arguably the league’s best O-Line. During his introductory conference, Johnson made it clear that the team needed to improve up front.

I think offensive line is certainly an area that we need to get better play from going forward, something that [general manager] Ryan [Poles] and I have already talked about. We will develop a plan of attack for how to get that done, but I’m looking forward to getting an excellent offensive line coach in the building to help develop the young talent that we already have on the roster, and we will certainly talk about acquiring talent to bolster that unit as well. But I was certainly blessed the last few years with the men that I worked with. And that was something I would love to replicate here as well.

Despite adding two starters to their line in the past 24 hours, the Bears may not be done adding to the group. With the No. 10 pick in April’s draft, Chicago has the opportunity to add a top offensive tackle to the group. Missouri’s Armand Membou and LSU’s Will Campbell are seen as the two top options in this year’s class.