"In Ben Johnson We Trust," right Chicago Bears fans? The new head coach is testing that faith already with Tuesday's trade bringing in Jonah Jackson from the Los Angeles Rams.
On the surface, swapping a sixth-round pick for a veteran offensive lineman with a Pro Bowl to his name sounds like a great deal. And it could be. Jackson started 57 games for Detroit, including 25 under Johnson as an OC. There's obviously trust there.
Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Make no mistake, this is a leap of faith for Johnson and the Bears.
NFL Trade Grades: Is Jonah Jackson an upgrade on what Bears already have?
After four seasons in Detroit, Jackson left the Lions for the Rams in free agency. It was a decision he surely regrets. He was moved to center and won the starting job out of camp, but his foray in the middle wasn't fruitful. He started the first two games of the season, didn't play well, and was knocked out by injury. He returned in November, played one game, poorly, and was promptly benched in favor of sixth-round rookie Beaux Limmer.
I'll give him this, Jackson played well in the regular-season finale when the Rams rested starters and he slotted back into his preferred position at guard. If the Bears want to get the most out of Jackson, they'd do well to do the opposite of what the Rams did. Keep him at guard and go find a center.
Still, playing Jackson at guard doesn't guarantee Chicago will have upgraded on Matt Pryor or Tevin Jenkins.
Pryor earned a 69.9 rating from PFF in 2024. Jenkins posted a 75.4. Not only did Jackson not top those numbers, but he's literally never graded out higher than those two this past season. His career-high grade from a PFF perspective was a 69.3 in 2021.
I'm not saying PFF grades are the end-all-be-all. It's hard to wrap your head around any Bears offensive lineman having decent grades in 2024, but they did. The PFF grade and the eye test don't always match up. Still, I find the grades useful for comparison's sake. Even in his days with the largely successful Lions offensive line, Jackson was consistently the worst of the five starters. And Jackson's replacement in Detroit, Kevin Zeitler, was a massive upgrade.
Jackson is worth a swing, especially at the cost of a sixth-rounder, considering his familiarity with Johnson. However, if the Bears truly want to improve their offensive front, this needs to be the least of their additions.
As for the Rams, their mistake was signing Jackson in the first place and expecting him to change positions. Cutting bait now makes sense just from a financial perspective, even if I'm not going to let them off the hook for essentially setting money on fire. They've saved some cap space by moving on while picking up a late-round draft pick.
Bears trade grade: B
Rams trade grade: C