The left tackle position for the Chicago Bears is going to be the battle everyone is watching.
Chicago Bears training camp opens this week!
With that news, we bring you are final training camp battle to watch for 2025, and it’s the one that everyone is going to be watching the closest: left tackle.
The situation here is interesting as a training camp battle largely because of Braxton Jones’ health.
When will Jones get on the field? Jones fractured his ankle late in the season, and the expectation (at the time) was that Jones would miss OTAs but be ready for training camp. The Bears, however, have not given any kind of timetable for Jones, and now we are hearing he’s going to be limited as training camp opens.
How long will Jones be limited? How much can the two other left tackles potentially establish themselves before Jones starts practicing in full?
Let’s look at the three participants in this battle, beyond Jones’ health.
First, we have Jones, the incumbent. Jones will win this job if the other two don’t take it from him. If the rookie, Ozzy Trapilo, looks shaky with pads on, and the second-year man, Kiran Amegadjie, doesn’t show much improvement, the Bears know they have a perfectly reliable left tackle in Braxton Jones who will step on the field in September and get the job done.
Jones won’t be flashy, he won’t be overpowering, but he will be good enough. With the Bears’ improved offensive line, Jones would go from being arguably the best player on the Bears’ line in 2024 to their worst in 2025. If Jones is your worst lineman, you have a pretty darn good line.
Amegadjie needs to show massive improvement from the last time we saw him on the field to be considered for a starting spot. Amegadjie, most likely, is competing for the swing tackle position, not the starting tackle position, but if Jones stays on the shelf for a few more weeks and Amegadjie starts to impress, things can change.
We’ve heard it all about Amedgadjie already. He was going to be a project. He was a toolsy player with good feet. He needed to adjust to tougher competition. He was hurt last summer and didn’t have a true training camp.
We are now entering year two, and everything from the last paragraph is now an excuse. It was all legitimate last season; this season, it’s not. Amegadjie has been on the team a year; he’s had a year to adjust to the speed of the league. It’s time to show massive improvement.
The reports out of OTAs with Amedgadjie weren’t great. It certainly makes you wonder if Amedgadjie isn’t going to become the guy the Bears hoped he could be. But, to be fair, let’s also not put too much stock into how Amedgadjie looked in shorts in May.
If Amedgadjie doesn’t step up, the door will open for rookie Ozzy Trapilo. Trapilo is an interesting prospect. I had Trapilo as my favorite tackle in this draft, which I didn’t have a first-round grade on. My tackle rankings were Will Campbell, Armand Membou, Josh Simmons, Josh Conerly, and Kelvin Banks. I had those as my first round tackles, and sixth on my list was Trapilo.
I say that to say that I was higher on Trapilo during the draft process than most experts were, and I was thrilled the Bears nabbed him late in round two.
Why did I like Trapilo? I liked him because he doesn’t screw up. He doesn’t make many ‘wow’ blocks, but he doesn’t get beat very often. If Trapilo gets opportunities with the 1s (and he will) and shows that he can hold his own against Dayo Odeyingbo and Montez Sweat, he’s going to quickly cement himself as the team’s starting left tackle before Braxton Jones even gets back on the field.
I think there are two competitions within this position group. It’s Trapilo against Jones for LT1, and it’s Trapilo vs Amegadjie for LT2.
One other question we have to at least pose: if both Trapilo and Amegadjie look good, would the Bears consider trading Braxton Jones to a team that needs help at tackle?
It’s important to note that if Amedgadjie struggles this summer, you cannot risk trading Jones and leaving a rookie and a struggling second-year player as your tackles. But if both look good and the Bears have a gluttonous amount of tackles, they might be able to get a decent pick for Jones for a good team that needs some help at tackle.
I think the reality of the situation here is that Amedgadjie will not show enough for the Bears to be confident and he will settle in as the LT3 on this team, but I do believe Braxton Jones will lose his job to Ozzy Trapilo and settle in as the team’s swing tackle, while the rookie, Trapilo, earns the starting job this year.
This should be the training camp battle we hear about regularly. We will be hearing daily updates as to which tackle is with the 1s each day, how they are playing, and how this competition is shaking out. Training camp is just a few days away, and Bears football is finally here. Buckle up.