The Chicago Bears’ ongoing battle at left tackle took an interesting turn ahead of Tuesday’s practice, where head coach Ben Johnson announced that it would be Braxton Jones working with the first-team offense.
Jones suffered a minor knee injury during practice on Aug. 6, and he’s making his return to team activities on Tuesday. With Jones sidelined, the Bears had been rotating Kiran Amegadjie and Jedrick Wills Jr. with the starters. Johnson said that both Amegadjie and Wills will get some looks at right tackle while Theo Benedet, who’s practiced exclusively at right tackle, will finally see some action on the left side with the second-team offense Tuesday.
Another interesting development is the return of Ozzy Trapilo, who’d established himself as the starting left tackle before suffering a ruptured patellar tendon during the team’s wild-card playoff win back in January. Trapilo, who was expected to miss most of the 2026 season, returned in record time just seven months after what some initially believed might be a career-altering injury.
There’s no word on when Trapilo could return to practice in full and factor into the starting left tackle competition. According to Johnson, Trapilo “has his own timeline.”
From what we’ve learned this summer, it appears to be Jones’ job to lose. Before his injury, Jones had been receiving a bulk of first-team reps, and that’s expected to continue with him back in action. When Trapilo is ready to compete for the starting role, that’s when things should get interesting.
“As far as I’m concerned, the competition remains wide open and we’ll continue to play that one out,” Johnson said.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Ben Johnson shares significant update on Bears left tackle competition
Reporting by Alyssa Barbieri, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alyssa Barbieri, Bears Wire | USA TODAY Network
