Ben Johnson has plans for the Chicago Bears offense. To execute those plans, he needs the right players. The team has already addressed multiple positions on the roster, specifically the offensive line, with three new starters along the interior. What people don’t know is if Johnson may shoot for a fourth. Left tackle is a source of debate among fans and media looking towards the draft. Braxton Jones concluded a frustrating season in 2024 by breaking his ankle. Recovering from that and knowing that his contract only has one year left puts the Bears in an interesting spot.
They hold the 10th pick in the draft, giving them a solid opportunity to find a long-term replacement at left tackle. Adding intrigue were recent comments from Johnson at the NFL Owners Meetings. He remained complimentary of Jones, believing he’s good enough to be a left tackle in this league. However, he admitted that the lineman’s injury will keep him limited to start training camp. In addition, the team appears to consider him somewhat underweight for the offense they plan to implement.
“The number one thing in my opinion that tackles need to do is pass protect. I think he’s got the feet to get that done. We’re going to challenge him to maybe gain a little bit more weight so that he can anchor a little bit better in pass pro. But everything I’ve seen so far has shown a phenomenal athlete out there on the edge that we feel like we can work with.”
Johnson sounds open to riding with Braxton Jones.
Obviously, this could all be a careful smokescreen to mask the Bears’ intentions to draft a top tackle. That said, if taken at face value, Johnson doesn’t seem overly nervous about going with Jones for this season. He’s been a solid player when healthy over the past few years. The only lingering concern was what the head coach mentioned. His anchor in pass protection has been inconsistent at best. The truth is the Bears don’t have any clear upgrade in this draft. Will Campbell of LSU, Armand Membou of Missouri, Josh Simmons of Ohio State, and Kelvin Banks of Texas all have talent.
They also have red flags.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Campbell has some of the shortest arms of any tackle in the draft. Membou has never played left tackle. Simmons tore his patella last year. Banks has several technical issues that haven’t been resolved despite starting multiple years. Braxton Jones isn’t perfect. Still, he’s proven he can hang at this level. Johnson isn’t new to coaching around the flaws of his players. At the very least, he can handle one season with no clear long-term solution at left tackle while the team aims for immediate upgrades elsewhere.
The only worry I have with Braxton is the injury. I have no problem with him and Wright as the starting tackles. Plus with our interior shored up, Caleb won’t have to run outside the pocket every other play like last year. I think both Jones and Wright will look a lot better
On a serious note. . . “Context” is significant here: The game of football is not played “on the margins” but often, it is described, evaluated and reported upon, as if it were. I have often cited the various, grades, rankings and growing bounty of GPS aided spatial-temporal measurements (down to the inches and tenths of seconds) available to us, all. PFF grades and NextGenStats offer comps and spatial-temporal precision — but still fail to answer the critical questions: “Which team won?” and “How do we duplicate the winning?” ____________ If the 2025 Bears GM Ryan Poles can secure enough… Read more »
Let me also say this: I completely understand why the front offices of teams that win may be inclined to ignore the grades that PFF puts out. But CHI, a 5-12 team that regressed despite having two 2024 top-ten draft picks on the roster, is not a team that wins.
The problem (not winning) speaks for itself, and the PFF data is the data that we have on the problem.
I admire people or players who overachieve given their supposed limitations. Jones fits in that category. But with LT we are talking about the riskiest position on the OL for pass protection.
Who is the current back-up? Could Wright play LT in a pinch? Could he be switched to LT now? It would be nice to know before the draft.
@Veece I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from about Jones, but here’s his 2025 pass-blocking grade from PFF.