Braxton Jones may have lost his grip on Bears' starting left tackle job

It's not often that a former fifth-round NFL draft pick earns the starting left tackle job in each of his first three seasons, but that's what Braxton Jones has done. By the end of the 2024 season, he had far outplayed his draft value, finishing the year with a respectable 77.4 grade from Pro Football Focus, good for 21st out of all eligible offensive tackles.

Unfortunately, injuries have held Jones back these last two years. After an ironman rookie season in which he did not miss a single game, Jones missed eleven games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. What's worse, he suffered a major leg injury just this past December, causing him to miss all of the offseason workouts and enter training camp with a left tackle battle on his hands.

Through it all, Jones still had the pole position for the starting left tackle spot in 2025, even with the Bears drafting Ozzy Trapilo and with Kiran Amegadjie returning healthy for his second season. That may have changed after Sunday's preseason Week 1 performance. Jones did not exactly cover himself in glory against the Miami Dolphins' backups, and one rep was particularly brutal.