The Bears knocked off the archrival Packers in the wild-card round last January, but they lost starting left tackle Ozzy Trapilo to a ruptured patellar in his knee that night. Not only did the injury shelve Trapilo for the Bears’ Round 2 loss to the Rams, but the expectation was it would keep him out for a large portion of 2026. That may not be the case anymore.
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Trapilo has been on the active/physically unable to perform list since July 25, but head coach Ben Johnson issued an encouraging Tuesday update on the lineman. Johnson said Trapilo has been “hitting his hurdles” during his rehab, and he did not rule out Trapilo returning by the end of training camp (via Courtney Cronin of ESPN). Bears camp ends Aug. 27, shortly before the Aug. 30 deadline for teams to finalize their rosters.
If Trapilo is still on active/PUP on the 30th, he will move to reserve/PUP and miss the first four games of the season. In that scenario, Braxton Jones would likely open the year as the Bears’ starting left tackle. Jones held that role at the beginning of last season, but the Bears benched him for Theo Benedet in Week 4. Trapilo, 2025 second-rounder, took over for a demoted Benedet in Week 11 and performed well enough as a rookie to remain the starter until the injury ended his season.
Unsure how much Trapilo would play in 2026, the Bears re-signed Jones to a one-year deal worth up to $10MM (including $3MM guaranteed) in March. That at least gave Chicago some insurance, but a best case would include Trapilo returning sooner than later and reclaiming the LT spot.
While Trapilo is trending upward, the news isn’t as positive on fellow 2025 second-rounder Luther Burden. The receiver strained his groin in practice last Saturday and is expected to sit out the team’s entire three-game preseason, Dan Wiederer of The Athletic reports. However, the Bears are hopeful Burden will be in the lineup for their season opener in Carolina on Sept. 13, Johnson said (via Cronin).
Burden, whom the Bears took 39th overall, got off to a bit of a slow start as a rookie. The Missouri product recorded just 13 catches for 171 yards and a touchdown in his first seven games. Most of those yards (101) came in a Week 3 win over the Cowboys. Burden recorded negative years in three games in that stretch, but his production took a significant jump after he sat out a Week 9 win over the Bengals with a concussion.
While Burden only had one score in his final eight games (he missed a Week 16 win against the Packers with an ankle injury), he pulled in 34 receptions for 481 yards in that span. The 6-foot, 210-pounder finished the regular season third on the Bears in catches (47) and yards (652). Burden’s second-half ascent helped the NFC North champions through a down year for D.J. Moore and an injury-shortened campaign for Rome Odunze.
Moore is now gone, having left in an offseason trade with the Bills, while Odunze will try to rebound from a foot issue that hampered him in 2025. If healthy, Burden and Odunze should join second-year tight end Colston Loveland as quarterback Caleb Williams‘ main targets.
Having made significant draft investments in Burden, Odunze (ninth overall pick, 2024) and Loveland (10th overall, 2025) in the past couple of years, the Bears shied away from expensive pass catchers in the offseason. They instead addedKalif Raymond on a $3MM guarantee in free agency and spent third-round choices on tight end Sam Roush (69th overall) and receiver Zavion Thomas (No. 89).