One player has a chance to alter the Bears’ draft plans with the 25th overall pick when he returns to the team facilities days before the draft
Chicago Bears left tackle Braxton Jones got a second chance to prove himself after re-signing with the team on a one-year deal and he doesn’t plan to waste this opportunity handed to him.
The Chicago Bears were vocal about the uncertainty at the left tackle position after hearing from general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson at the NFL Annual Meeting last week.
Since then, people on the outside have begun speculating whether or not the Bears will use the 25th overall pick on a top offensive tackle to finally secure that position long-term. It’s a viable strategy, but there’s one player who can alter those plans, and that player is Braxton Jones.
Jones re-signed with the Bears on a one-year deal in free agency after being a three-year starter in Chicago. The 2025 season did not play out the way Jones hoped under the new coaching staff, but he showed enough to earn a second opportunity and he plans to make the most of it going into the 2026 season.
Braxton Jones is looking like a new man and ready to show out for the Bears coaching staff
Due to injuries, the Bears never got a chance to see Jones at his best last season. He missed the majority of the offseason rehabbing from a fractured fibula and still didn’t look like his usual self starting the first four games of the regular season. Jones got benched and later suffered a knee injury in practice that essentially shut him down for the rest of the season.
Since then, Jones has worked on getting himself healthy again and recently started training with former five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead. Armstead used to play for Bears offensive line coach Dan Roushar and is someone Roushar referred to as “the standard” for left tackle play in the NFL.
On Monday, Armstead also had Jones on his podcast and shared high praise for what he’s been seeing out of the Bears former fifth-round pick.
“I’m excited to watch,” Armstead told Jones. “I know this will be the best version of you we’ve ever seen. And that’s all we’re asking for. I just want to see the best version of you. I don’t want you to be me, be Darnell [Wright], or the next guy. The best Braxton Jones is a bad mother…”
That’s exciting to hear from a former player of Armstead’s caliber and no one knows better than him the kind of player Roushar is looking for at that spot. Ben Johnson even shared excitement for Jones when he walked back in the facility to sign his one-year deal.
Jones believes he’s even more prepared to prove himself to the coaches this time around after essentially spending a year off watching from the background.
“That’s why I’m very blessed just for last year and how it went to learn and really watch and sit back,” Jones explained. “Look at what he’s looking for and his minor details. I’m blessed to be back in the position which I am. Definitely trying to be the front-runner for [the starting job].”
That kind of mindset should excite the team and put some belief back into the coaches. When the players return on April 20, Jones should be the first one through the door and show he’s eager to do what it takes.
If he can, maybe the Bears rethink drafting a top rookie offensive tackle.
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