How Should the Bears Handle the Left Tackle Logjam?
Barring an injury, it looks like Braxton Jones might’ve played his last snap with the Bears.
The 2022 fifth-round selection is entering a contract year and was benched during the second half against the Raiders. Unfortunately for him, the offense operated much more smoothly with him out of the lineup.
Theo Benedet, who started at right tackle for the injured Darnell Wright, will get the first shot at replacing him.
The question that bears asking is whether Benedet can hold on to the job for the rest of the season.
There’s no chance Ben Johnson and the Bears’ coaching staff expected the Canadian Eagle to be starting at left tackle this year. Hell, they probably didn’t even expect him to make the roster before training camp. Kiran Amegadjie was the third man in the left tackle conversation at that point, after all. Benedet not only ran circles around last year’s third-round selection, but the real shock was that he beat out second-round selection Ozzy Trapilo outright for the swing tackle job.
Benedet held his own on the left side in the second half against the Raiders. However, I was honestly even more impressed by Trapilo’s performance at right tackle. Maxx Crosby was well on his way to a legacy game in the first half (lining up against Benedet), but was largely neutralized against the Boston College product. It was the toughest draw imaginable for a tackle in his first game. It’s tough to imagine him playing much better than he did. Truly night and day from Amegadjie’s Monday Night(mare) debut against Minnesota last year.
Neither Benedet nor Trapilo received particularly generous Pro Football Focus grades, but they’ve always been questionable at evaluating o-line play. I personally remember Sam Mustipher having a pristine “Pass-block win rate” midway through the ’22 season despite being turned to roadkill on multiple occasions.
Still, unless someone (or two players) get hurt, I don’t see Trapilo starting at left tackle this year. In my opinion, the fact that they gave up on that experiment as early as they did is telling. I’m guessing it was far from a natural transition, and I’d be shocked to see him have a future at left tackle. That leads me to my next point…
I know this might not be a popular opinion, but I think moving Wright to the left side actually gives the Bears their best chance to get their five best starters in the lineup.
From a strictly blocking perspective (not factoring in pre-snap penalties), Wright has been Chicago’s best offensive lineman this year. That’s not an easy achievement with a future Hall of Famer at left guard. While I still think there’s another level to his game that he has yet to reach, he’s a clear resign candidate. That puts Trapilo in a position where he will only see the field if Wright were to get hurt, and he’s only missed two games throughout his career.
I know it was a small sample size, but Trapilo looked like a starter against Crosby. They also used a second-round pick on him… and they didn’t do that to sit him on the bench. They gave up on moving him to the left side, but he provides starting-quality play on the right. If Benedet can provide the same on the left side, then he will lock down that job for the rest of the year. However, if he struggles to do so, they will need to find another combination that works.
I think Wright making the jump would make a lot of sense in that case.
Wright started every game of his junior season on the left side for Tennessee. He more than held his own in the process and helped the team set a school record for total points and total yardage.
While it would be naive to expect him to play better on the left side than the right early on, he still definitely wouldn’t be a liability, and he would only get better with more experience.
If it would allow them to get the most out of their second-round pick that is destined to be a (potentially very good) backup if nothing else changes, then sign me up.
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Categorized:Bears