Sportsnaut
The Bears knew they had to improve the offensive line this offseason after Caleb Williams got sacked a league-high 68 times in 2024.
As a result, the team made several moves, including letting Teven Jenkins leave in free agency while adding Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, and Jonah Jackson to start at the interior spots. At right tackle, former first-round pick Darnell Wright remains entrenched, but the left tackle spot is up for grabs.
Braxton Jones started at that spot in 2024 and delivered mixed results. Jones earned a solid Pro Football Focus grade, but was penalized seven times and allowed five sacks. As a result, the team is holding an open competition at the spot, and several guys are in the mix.
2025 second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo has seen some first-team snaps, and many were expected 2024 third-rounder Kiran Amegadjie to factor in as well, but that hasn’t really happened due to Amegadjie having some injury issues this summer.
Instead, a surprising player has recently been getting some starter snaps at left tackle- Theo Benedet. The Canadian offensive lineman has been a star of camp, and rotated with the starters on Wednesday with Jones. Trapilo, meanwhile, was at right tackle with the second-string offense.
Offensive line coach Dan Roushar offered a glowing review of Benedet’s work.
“There’s a lot of things to really like about Theo. He’s had probably as much improvement as any player we have in the group,” said Roushar. “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.”
Jones should still be viewed as the favorite to start due to how raw Benedet is. However, Benedet is now the favorite to land the backup left tackle spot, while Trapilo should be the backup right tackle. As a result, Amegadjie could find himself on the chopping block soon unless he quickly gets healthy and regains favor.
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