The Chicago Bears have opened training camp with a revolving door for the team's starting left tackle position. Find out what it will take for someone to win the job.
It wasn't a surprise to anyone that the Chicago Bears had a competition at left tackle entering training camp.
After Ozzy Trapilo ruptured his patellar tendon in the wild-card matchup against the Green Bay Packers last season, that opened up a huge hole on the Bears' roster. Instead of drafting a potential replacement, the Bears elected to sign former first-round draft pick Jedrick Wills to a one-year contract and stick with their current players.
So far through three days of training camp, Braxton Jones, Kiran Amegadjie and Wills have all seen snaps with the first-team offense. Jones, who signed a one-year deal this offseason, has played the most snaps as Caleb Williams' blind side protector, serving as the team's starting tackle through the first two practices.
That changed during Friday's practice, with Amegadjie -- the former Yale third-round draft pick -- playing most of the snaps with the first-team offense. Jones and Wills played a snap, at least, with the starters but primarily were with the backups.
Jones spoke to reporters following Friday's practice and shared what's like being in the mix for the starting left tackle position.
“One day I could go out and be running with the ones,” Jones said. “One day I could be going with the 2s. It doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, we’re all competing, trying to be as consistent as possible, and that’s our mission as a group. And we’re all cheering each other on, regardless if I’m with the 3s or 2s.”
At the end of the day, consistency is what will earn one of these players the starting job. The Bears had four different players take snaps at left tackle throughout the entire 2025 season. Ideally, that numbers is reduced to one player. Of course, injuries are a part of the game, so multiple players receiving reps at left tackle during training camp could become beneficial down the road.
But as the competition continues that means there is less consistent reps for the entire starting offensive line. According to reporters in attendance for Saturday's practice, Wills played the majority of the snap with the first-team offense, while Jones repped with the 2s and Amegadjie with the 3s.
Once full pads are introduced next week, that will begin the separation process between Jones, Amegadjie and Wills. Head coach Ben Johnson will be able to assess how the trio of left tackles perform in pass blocking situations and in the run game, where physicality, positioning and timing is a necessity.
Jones understands what he has to do to win the starting job, and it will come down to three important factors.
"I mean, I think like I said, it's a competition," Jones said. "Whoever, I mean, Ben [Johnson] said it the other day, you know, jobs are going to come down to the most consistent players. So whoever is most consistent, that's what I'm working on is being the most consistent and doing my job all the time, knowing when and where to be, and, you know, but like I said too, we're all a brotherhood. You know, we're all trying to go after one thing. So whoever's the best to go take us to a Super Bowl, is going to be the left tackle, you know what I'm saying? So, and then we just got to protect 18."
