Chicago Bears left tackle battle takes a sudden turn with a new player joining the race going into the second preseason game
This isn’t becoming any clearer.
With each passing day, one would hope the Chicago Bears are getting closer to wrapping up one of the biggest positional battles on the roster, but that might not be the case.
The Bears left tackle competition continues to be an on-going situation going into the second week of preseason and time it ticking for the Bears to declare a winner to start out of the gate.
The sooner the Bears can identify who the starting five will be on the offensive line, the sooner those five players can begin gelling heading into the regular season. But, that’s easier said than done, and the players on the roster aren’t making it easy on the coaches.
In the preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins, fourth-year tackle Braxton Jones took starting reps on the left side, a starting position he’s held since being drafted in 2022. After getting a few drives on the field in joint practice and in a game setting on Sunday, offensive line coach Dan Roushar shared what he saw on tape.
“I thought on Friday, against Miami in the one-on-ones, I saw him set with balance, his hips were down, and he used his length. And I saw a player that we could win with,” Roushar explained. “When I watched him Sunday, as I told him, I said ‘you reverted back to whatever this is for you’ and that’s not acceptable. So everyday, we’ll go in and we have a standard, and we’ll maintain that standard and hold our guys to that standard.”
Late in the first-half, second-round rookie Ozzy Trapilo took over at left tackle and played into the second-half. Eventually, a third tackle joined the mix on the left side in Theo Benedet with Kiran Amegadjie sidelined due to a leg injury. And it seems like Benedet was able to impress his position coach.
“There’s a lot of things to really like about Theo,” Roushar added, via Adam Jahns. “He’s had probably as much improvement as any player we have in the group. With that, there’s a lot of things for him to improve on and he knows that and we’ve gotta work on it. He is working his tail off. He has put himself in a position to go compete for a job somewhere in this group.”
Those comments were reflected on the field during Wednesday’s practice. Benedet rotated in with the first-team offense with Jones while Trapilo worked with the second-team at right tackle. Amegadjie was back on the field rotating in at left tackle with the third-team offense.
That’s not to say Trapilo is out of the race for the starting position, but it seems like the team is getting him ready for the swing tackle role by getting reps on both sides of the front, a role best suited for his strengths given his history on the right side.
As for the left tackle competition, things get even more uncertain with little time left to make a firm decision. Jones still has the leg up as things stand despite his play on Sunday, but with Benedet’s improvement, a fourth horse seems to have entered the race.
We’ll see how things progress going into Friday’s joint practice and Sunday’s preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
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