The Chicago Bears claimed offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood off waivers from the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday, a source told ESPN’s Field Yates.
Leatherwood, the Raiders’ 2021 first-round draft pick, was waived Las Vegas on Tuesday as they trimmed to their initial 53-man roster.
Leatherwood, an offensive lineman taken with the No. 17 overall pick out of Alabama to be the Raiders’ foundational right tackle, regressed in the preseason and Las Vegas’ new regime of coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler had seen enough.
Leatherwood is scheduled to make $14.39 million fully guaranteed this season as part of his rookie contract.
Leatherwood was considered a draft reach last season by many observers and struggled enough early in the season that he was moved from right tackle to right guard in Week 5.
He was moved back to right tackle in training camp and was competing with Brandon Parker before Parker went down with an arm injury in the Hall of Fame Game. But Leatherwood was supplanted by rookie seventh rounder Thayer Munford and Jermaine Eluemunor, making him expendable since Leatherwood could not fulfill the role of a swing tackle, either.
ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.