Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears have wrapped up practice today, and there were plenty of media reports coming out of Lake Forest, like there usually are. But there was one piece of information that stood out to me as more important than anything else.
For most of the last three weeks, we’ve seen Braxton Jones and Ozzy Trapilo get regular reps with the 1s. The two of them have been regularly rotating. We’ve even seen Kiran Amedgadjie get a decent amount of reps with the 1s as the coaching staff tries to determine who will be protecting Caleb Williams’ blind side.
When the first depth chart came out and Amegadjie found his name listed at right tackle, that was a pretty big indication that the left tackle race was now a two-horse race.
With a coaching decision today, it looks like Braxton Jones may have the inside track to start at left tackle.
The Bears moved Trapilo to the right side to get some reps on that side gives us a large indication that Braxton Jones has the inside track to be the team’s starting left tackle.
Jones did not receive all the left tackle reps with the 1s; they did give Theo Benedet reps with the 1s at left tackle as well. But there’s only one reason why Trapilo would be getting reps at right tackle: the swing tackle position.
With Trapilo getting reps at the right tackle, signs would indicate that things are pointing towards him becoming the swing tackle, and the Bears want Trapilo to be comfortable on both the left and right sides.
Had the Bears given Jones some reps on the right side, it would certainly point to Trapilo having had the inside track at LT1. But with Trapilo over there, despite Jones’ poor performance on Sunday against the Dolphins, it would appear that the position is Jones’ to lose.
While Jones struggled on Sunday, Trapilo was quite pedestrian himself. Trapilo played largely against Miami’s 3s and 4s and looked fine, but did not look dominant. You would have wanted to see Trapilo dominate, like Austin Booker did, against that level of competition.
Jones is the veteran, and when a vet competes with the rookie, usually the rookie has to win the position from the veteran. Jones may not be doing much to keep the position, but Trapilo didn’t look like a guy who was winning the position from Jones, either.
We still have two more preseason games and almost a month before the Bears first regular season game of the year, a lot can change before that happens, but with Trapilo working on the right side today, if Jones is the team’s starting left tackle on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, it’ll be about time you lock in Braxton Jones as the team’s starting left tackle.
