Windy City Gridiron
They say that the offseason always feels shorter when your favorite team makes the playoffs. For the Chicago Bears and their fans, I’m not sure they would share the same sentiment. Although the offseason was technically shortened by two weeks due to a pair of playoff games, the feeling of getting back and challenging for a Super Bowl has been a topic of discussion for the better part of seven months.
Although the regular season is still just over six weeks away, fans can finally turn their focus to the start of training camp and how this roster will shake out. In just one season, head coach Ben Johnson re-shaped the offense and transformed a Bottom 10 unit into a Top 10 product. For the first time in a decade, the sole focus hasn’t been on the quarterback. Although former No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams does need to take another step forward in 2026, there’s far more excitement surrounding this unit than anxious energy.
Even with high hopes, there are a few camp battles worth keeping an eye on, and that’s what we’ll dive into now. Here are the Top 3 Training Camp battles on the offensive side of the ball.
This feels familiar, doesn’t it? It might be hard to believe, but despite having one of the league’s best offensive lines, left tackle continues to be a question mark for this team. Going back to the Bears’ playoff opener against the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round, it felt like they had their starting five for the next two-plus seasons. Then, a ruptured patellar tendon to Ozzy Trapilo and a surprise retirement a month later from Drew Dalman, and all of a sudden, that elite offensive line had two open holes in its starting lineup.
We’ll dive into both spots, but let’s start at left tackle. Like last year, this will be a multi-week, multi-name competition. The only real saving grace is that this should be a more straightforward competition with two primary names to watch. The veteran Braxton Jones comes in as the odds-on favorite, and assuming he’s healthy, there’s reason to believe he should win the competition pretty handily. That said, former Cleveland Browns first-round pick Jedrick Wills Jr. is an x-factor, pending health. At his best, he’s still young (and talented) enough to make a splash and win the job. The biggest question will be health, which has been the story so far in his NFL career.
There’s an outside chance that one of Theo Benedet or Kiran Amegadjie could compete for the starting job. Still, considering the team’s decision in the Divisional Round last year to keep Benedet on the bench for Joe Thuney moving positions, it seems like he’s going to be more of the overall swing offensive lineman, versus being in the conversation to start at left tackle. Amegadjie might still have the talent to develop into a useful player. Still, his continued lack of availability has...
