Former Bears guard Teven Jenkins agreed to sign with the Browns on Thursday.
Jenkins’ return to the Bears was unlikely even before the team traded for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson earlier this month.
Drafted with hopes he’d be the left tackle of the future, Jenkins instead struggled through injuries and a move to guard in his four seasons at Halas Hall.
When he was healthy, he was one of the Bears’ best linemen. He missed so many games, though, that the Bears were hesitant to plan around him moving forward. He missed 23 starts because of injury and played fewer than three-quarters of the Bears snaps in 16 other games.
He finishes his Bears career having started just 38 games in four seasons.
“I wish it went a lot better,” Jenkins said during locker cleanout day in January. “A lot of things I could’ve done better myself. A lot of things I wanted to do at the beginning of the season like leave no doubt for the contract stuff. But I didn’t do enough of my part to where now there’s still questions. So I failed in that part.”
Jenkins was the final remaining member of the Bears’ 2021 draft class still on the team. That was the last year general manager Ryan Pace was in charge.