Bears Offensive Training Camp Questions: Braxton Jones the runaway LT, Rome Odunze’s health, Zavion Thomas’ impact, and more
The Chicago Bears open training camp in a little over a month and the offensive side of the ball still has some burning questions that weren’t fully answered throughout the offseason program.
The Chicago Bears open training camp in a little over a month when the rookies return on July 25 with veterans expected to be back on July 28.
Offensively, the Bears showed encouraging signs going into the second season under head coach Ben Johnson compared to how the unit looked last year during the offseason program. The question is whether or not that continues to be the case when the players get back to the building and pads start to come on.
Along with that last point, training camp will finally give the staff the opportunity to evaluate some of the key position battles on the offensive front with two starting jobs on the line. And that’s just two of the five questions we have for the offense going into training camp.
Chicago Bears top offensive questions that need to be answered at training camp
How does Caleb Williams look at handling the little things?
The offseason program showcased some more jaw-dropping plays from quarterback Caleb Williams that are becoming an everyday occurrence at this point. That’s bound to continue when training camp opens and clips start coming out of practice. What people really want to see, including Johnson, is how Williams does at handling the little things.
Accuracy and completion percentage were big measuring points throughout OTAs and minicamp with Johnson tracking every single pass Williams threw and grading his performance after every single session. It might seem tedious, but that’s the exact kind of precise coaching Williams needs to improve a bottom-of-the-league mark.
“It’s something that I realized is supremely important,” Williams said about his completion percentage. “It’s important to how we call it, how we play, how our routes are ran, the concepts, it’s important. And it’s important to coach, so it’s important to me and everybody else. Just being more conscious of it. The more emphasis, the more conscious you are of something typically when those two things are at hand you typically get better at something.”
Is Rome Odunze’s lingering foot issue something to be concerned about?
Before the breakout arrival of Luther Burden III and Colston Loveland, Rome Odunze was looking like the real breakout player of the offense in 2025. Odunze’s second season started off hot totaling five touchdowns in his first four games. Things, however, slowed down as the season progressed due to a stress fracture Odunze suffered in his foot.
Instead of shutting him down and letting him heal, Odunze continued pushing through the injury before finally getting shut down for the final five games of the regular season. After the season ended, Odunze noted he would not have to have offseason surgery to repair the foot but months later noted that he still adapting to his “new normal.”
That, understandably, opened the door for some concerns about what that means and if the injury will continue to hinder his performance on the field. Based on how he looked out there in the spring, that didn’t seem to be the case. How he moves and how the Bears handle his workload in camp will be something to watch.
“He says he feels great; he looks good to me,” Johnson said. “We go back and forth as a coaching staff, and he looks like the same old Rome. I think we’re in good shape.”
How quickly can Braxton Jones run away with the starting left tackle job?
Going into training camp, the starting left tackle job is once again up for grabs for the second year in a row, but it honestly seems like it’s Braxton Jones’ job to lose. Jones won the job last year at training camp coming back from a fractured fibula, although the decision wasn’t made until right before Week 1.
By Week 4, Jones was pulled from the starting lineup because his consistency wasn’t up to par. Jones also has since noted that he was still dealing with the physical and mental snags caused by his previous injury and how the benching allowed him to reevaluate everything.
Now, Jones is back on a one-year deal and looks like a “brand-new” man by all accounts. When camp opens, he will be working with the first-team offense while Jedrick Wills Jr., Theo Benedet, and Kiran Amegadjie look to make a late push. Honestly, I could see Jones outright winning the job in training camp, giving the unit more time to build chemistry as a cohesive starting five.
“His comfort level has risen, just in terms of knowing what to do and how we want to get it done,” Johnson said. “I think this is the best his body has felt in a while. So we’re really encouraged with where he’s at.”
Can Garrett Bradbury hold off Logan Jones for the starting center position?
After losing Pro Bowl center Drew Dalman to a sudden retirement, the Bears made two moves to make sure there was no fall off at the position. The first was trading for veteran Garrett Bradbury, coming off a Super Bowl season with the New England Patriots who has experience playing next to Joe Thuney. The second was selecting Logan Jones as the first center off the board in the second-round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
So far, the Bears have leaned on Bradbury’s experience with the first-team offense and have been impressed with what he’s shown from a mental standpoint handling the calls.
“A guy like Garrett Bradbury, impressed day one, just with the level of communication that he brings to the table,” Johnson said. “He’s loud. He’s demonstrative. I know that he’s going to be able to get all five guys on the same page.”
At the same time, Johnson said back in rookie minicamp that the ball is in Jones’ court to push Bradbury for the starting position and views him as a seasoned player after getting to work with him. Would Johnson really consider throwing a rookie out there Week 1 at such a critical position? That’s entirely up to what Jones can show in camp.
How soon can Zavion Thomas and Sam Roush get integrated into the offensive gameplan, and in what capacity?
Last year, the Bears had three exciting rookie weapons joining the offense in Burden, Loveland, and running back Kyle Monangai. The word we heard time and time again when reporters asked Johnson about any of the three was “trust”.
For Burden and Loveland, that was hard to earn early on. Both players dealt with injuries during the offseason program and entered training camp behind the curve with a lot of ground to make up. This year, it’s a different story with wide receiver Zavion Thomas and tight end Sam Roush. Both rookies were getting involved during OTAs and minicamp, including some first-team opportunities for Thomas.
Showcasing their mastery of the offense when they return for camp will decide how soon Thomas and Roush can get integrated into the offense and how big of a role they could play right out of the gate.