The Chicago Bears were prepared for an entire season without starting left tackle Ozzy Trapilo, but the most recent news on his torn patellar tendon has altered that timeline prediction drastically.
General manager Ryan Poles spoke about Trapilo’s potential return before even the start of the regular season, which is at least three to four months ahead of the schedule that the Bears GM laid out back in the spring.
“We’ve talked about the different scenarios: whether he comes back and has a little bit of training camp, if he comes back in September,” Poles said. “I think the big thing for us is padded practices. If you get too far down the line, it’s really hard to get that physical practice that you need to prepare for games.”
“So we’ve kind of looked at that on the calendar and kinda wanna map that out for him so he feels confident coming back,” Poles added. “Hopefully he’s able to capture some of those padded practices.”
Braxton Jones Still Appears Favorite to Start at Left Tackle for Bears in Week 1
GettyChicago Bears left tackle Braxton Jones.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated visited Bears camp recently and wrote about Trapilo being ahead of schedule on Monday.
“Braxton Jones, Jedrick Wills and Kiran Amegadjie are duking it out to start at left tackle. Both Jones and Wills have been healthy, which is a plus. But with Jones out Sunday, Amegadjie took the reps with the starters,” Breer wrote. “And it looks like Ozzy Trapilo, who started six regular-season games at left tackle, then tore his patellar tendon in the wild-card round, might be back sooner than expected.”
Jones started 44 games for the Bears at left tackle over the past four seasons, but he lost his starting gig early last season and injury issues kept him on the back-burner for the remainder of the campaign. He may not have even returned to Chicago this offseason, were it not for Trapilo’s injury.
Wills, meanwhile, sat out all of last season after five years with Cleveland. A former top-10 pick, Wills proved a bust with the Browns and also battled major injury concerns in 2023 and 2024 before sitting out 2025 in an effort to get healthy.
Jones appears the favorite to win the starting job at this point, with Theo Benedet likely to play the role of reserve swing tackle. As such, the least productive between Wills and Amegadjie could end up missing the final 53-man roster that Chicago will submit at the end of the month.
Bears’ Hesitancy to Sign Taylor Decker Makes More Sense After Ozzy Trapilo Update
GettyDetroit Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker.
The Bears were a strong candidate to sign former Detroit Lions starting left tackle Taylor Decker, but that was when everyone assumed Trapilo was out until November or December, if not later.
Decker is a 10-year veteran who played under then offensive coordinator Ben Johnson for three years in Detroit before Johnson joined Chicago as the Bears’ head coach in 2025.
Given how important the offensive line’s turnaround in Johnson’s first year was to the team’s success, it was somewhat head-turning how little the Bears seemed willing to invest in a one-year fix at LT. However, given Poles’ comments on Tuesday regarding Trapilo, Chicago’s hesitancy to spend big at the crucial position makes more sense.
Trapilo was a second-round pick of Chicago in 2025 out of Boston College, which is Poles’ alma mater.
Bears Get Unexpectedly Great News on Crucial Left Tackle Battle