The Chicago Bears are currently riding the line between buyers and sellers ahead of the NFL trade deadline early next month, and the team could actually end up being both — or neither.
Jeremy Fowler and Matt Bowen of ESPN on Wednesday, October 22 named left tackle Braxton Jones as the No. 17 player on their list of the best 25 potential trade candidates in 2025. Jones has played in 46 games for Chicago over the past three and a half seasons, starting 44 of those.
“Rival teams agree that Jones is a sensible trade candidate after his benching in favor of Theo Benedet and his résumé as a multiyear starter in Chicago,” Fowler wrote. “Jones also is in a contract year, and he is now healthy following an ankle issue that plagued him for much of 2025.”
Braxton Jones Has More Value to Other Playoff-Contending Teams in 2025 Than He Does to Bears
GettyChicago Bears left tackle Braxton Jones.
Jones has been a solid player, though not a great one, since the Bears selected him in the fifth round of the 2022 draft out of Southern Utah (No. 168 overall).
Now in the final year of his $4 million rookie contract, Jones can likely return a pick of similar value to Chicago. The Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers are both teams with legitimate playoff aspirations, but also holes to fill on their respective offensive lines due to injury issues.
The Bears spent a sizable amount of capital revamping their offensive line this offseason, trading a fourth-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for Joe Thuney and a sixth-round selection to the Rams for Jonah Jackson — Chicago’s two starting guards. The team also signed starting center Drew Dalman to a three-year deal worth $42 million in the spring.
With Darnell Wright, the No. 10 overall pick in 2023, still playing well enough to remain the starting right tackle moving forward, the Bears are liable to focus on procuring a high quality left tackle in either the draft or free agency next offseason — even if Benedet, an undrafted rookie out of Canada in 2024, plays well.
As such, there is little reason for the Bears to hold onto a player like Jones who they are unlikely to bring back in 2026 and who other teams with actual postseason aspirations could use, thereby affording him value.
Bears Could Be in Play to Trade for Running Back, Edge Rusher
GettyNew York Jets running back Breece Hall.
While the Bears could easily move Jones for a draft asset, the team could also look for help from an edge rusher or running back in the coming days.
That said, Dan Wiederer of The Athletic categorized Chicago as a team that should “stand pat” on Wednesday.
“A four-game winning streak has become intoxicating, awakening Chicago’s imagination for what might be possible,” Wiederer wrote. “That should give general manager Ryan Poles the opportunity to at least window shop, to browse trade street window fronts for sales that offer possible help for the backfield or defensive line. But 2025, the first season on Ben Johnson’s watch, was never the year to strike, more so a time to create direction toward a sustained run of success. The Bears should value their current draft capital above all else, retain long-term focus and continue to build a contender that can last.”
While Wiederer’s point is well-taken, there are some players for whom the Bears could potentially trade in the next two weeks who can help construct the type of contender of which he wrote.
One is running back Breece Hall of the New York Jets. Chicago doesn’t appear to need him as much after two impressive outings in a row from D’Andre Swift and a solid showing from seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai against the New Orleans Saints in Week 7. Still, Hall is a potential solution at the position for the next half-decade, and if he’s available then there is call for a conversation, at the very least.
Fowler and Bowen also noted edge rushers Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals and Jaelan Phillips of the Miami Dolphins as potentially available trade candidates, both of whom could help the Bears win now and into the future.
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