The Chicago Bears used a third-round pick on offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie in last year's draft, but his rookie season didn't go according to plan.
Amegadjie missed most of the offseason program, including a few weeks of training camp, as he recovered from quad surgery. He also missed several games due to a calf injury sustained during the Bears' Week 8 loss against the Washington Commanders. Then he was thrown to the wolves in his first career start on Monday Night Football in a 30-12 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 15.
Amegadjie's start came on short notice after Braxton Jones reported concussion symptoms just before the prime-time matchup, and after having his season delayed due to injury, the deck was stacked against him. In that start, Amegadjie allowed a sack-fumble, and was flagged four times in the game, with three of them being accepted.
This offseason, the Bears have not only committed to improving the offensive line talent, but also bringing in Dan Roushar as their offensive line coach. Despite the rough year that he had as a rookie, Roushar is not ready to cast judgement on Amegadjie until he gets a full offseason under his belt.
"I think he's got a lot of potential, and I don't think it's fair to evaluate on anything that he did last year based on the fact that there was no OTAs, there was no training camp," Roushar said. "You're talking about a guy going in and getting healthy around Week 3, then to begin that process, and then hey, little repetitions, very little fundamental work, then 'hey, go play'. I'm excited about where he can go, I think the guy's got some lower power traits that you can get encouraged about, you see the length, you see the athleticism. We got to bring his confidence up. The building blocks of any good fundamental play, it starts in his lower and it'll move forward."
The Bears didn't use their first two picks on an offensive tackle, but they did land Ozzy Trapilo late in the second round. While his primary experience has come at right tackle, he has played left tackle. Darnell Wright is cemented as a starter (most likely at right tackle) so Trapilo could get the chance to compete for the starting left tackle job with Jones and Amegadjie. So last year's third-round pick will need to make quite the impression.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears OL coach Dan Roushar not giving up on Kiran Amegadjie
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