As the Bears prepare for a weekend trip to Carolina to open the season, they are doing so with plans for Braxton Jones to start at left tackle, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. Chicago activated last year’s second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo from the active/physically unable to perform list ahead of the roster cut deadline, but it doesn’t appear he’ll be quite ready to open the season and take his starting job on the blind side back.
As a rookie out of Boston College, Trapilo competed with Jones for the starting left tackle job last year but ended up opening his career coming off the bench. His debut came in Week 4, when Jones went down with an injury. Trapilo didn’t immediately fill in at left tackle, though. Instead, the Bears moved Theo Benedet — who had been filling in for an injured Darnell Wright at right tackle — to cover Jones on the blind side then had Trapilo come in as a third option at right tackle. It wasn’t Trapilo’s best outing, but he would earn another chance later on.
Benedet suffered an injury in November, allowing Trapilo another chance at a starting gig, this time at left tackle. Trapilo made his mark in his six-week run as the starter. After sitting out of a meaningless Week 18 contest to rest for the playoffs, Trapilo suffered a torn patellar tendon in the first round, ending his postseason and putting a healthy 2026 start in question. Chicago started getting good news on that front in August with reports that Trapilo was nearing a potential return, and though they activated him from the injured list, they reportedly need to see him get a few more weeks of practice before attempting to slide back in at tackle.
In the meantime, Jones will man his old position. The 2022 fifth-round pick out of Southern Utah is plenty familiar with the spot; he started every game of his rookie season there. Over the next two years, though Jones delivered decent results as a starter at left tackle, he struggled to stay on the field. A hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve near the start of his sophomore campaign, and he missed five games in 2024. He was unable to buck the trend last year, suffering a knee injury that would limit him to only six games.
Healthy for now, Jones has held Benedet at bay, but it seems like he may just be keeping the spot warm until Trapilo can return. Per Cronin, head coach Ben Johnson did “not have a timeline” for when Trapilo would be ready to tag in.
“I can’t say it’s in the near future,” Johnson said. “ I know he’s working his tail off. It’s been beyond impressive for him to be where he is today. The fact that he’s out there with those guys and he’s strong, he’s flexible, it’s a credit to him. It’s a credit to guys in the weight room who have been training him. I think we’re headed in the right direction there.”