Sportsnaut
The Chicago Bears are still looking to see who they’re starting left tackle will be for the 2025 NFL season.
The competition for the spot was initially a three person race between Braxton Jones, rookie Ozzy Trapilo, and Kiran Amegadjie. However, 2024 undrafted free agent Theo Benedet has also worked his way into the battle and has made a lot of progress over the last few weeks.
Benedet has taken some reps with the first-team offense in camp and has a legitimate case to be the starting left tackle. The Canadian offensive lineman was asked by Larry Mayer of Bears.com about the area he’s improved in the most, and Benedet pointed to his strides in the run game, which is certainly helping him in the position competition.
“I would say definitely in my ability to be dominant in the run game, open up holes. That’s obviously a way for O-linemen to flash in practice, if you can open a hole and spring a big run,” Benedet said via Mayer.
Benedet gave all the credit to his offensive line coach, Dan Roushar, for his improvement in run-blocking.
“Coach Roushar really understood, in the run game especially, that my footwork was probably too long, those kinds of things that were really detracting from my power positions when I hit the block,” Benedet added. “He’s understood at tackle how some things may look a little different for me, just given what I’m good at, what I’m not so good at, and just understanding how to coach through those to get back to the fundamentals that apply to everybody.”
If Benedet continues to impress at practice and posts a solid outing versus the Kansas City Chiefs to end the preseason, the 23-year-old should lock up a roster spot and also give himself a chance to be the starter at left tackle.
Jones and Trapilo are still likely the favorites in the competition, but don’t rule out the possibility of Benedet coming in and spoiling the party for those two.
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