After his first year in the NFL, Braxton Jones seemed to be one of the few Day 3 success stories for Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles.
That story has looked less successful by the season. Now heading into Year 4, Jones has been less than impressive in his showings thus far.
“Braxton Jones … continues to look terrible,” Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron wrote on August 15, adding:
“Something looks off with Jones. This is not the same guy that was on the field for the Bears the last couple of seasons. Is he still hurt? Is he struggling with the new offense? Are the tweaks to his technique impacting him? Is it all three?”
Adam Hoge of CHGO Sports also says he’s been concerned about the level of play he has seen from Jones thus far in 2025.
Concerning Updates on Performance of Bears LT Braxton Jones Emerge
A fifth-round pick in 2022 out of Southern Utah, Jones was thrust into the starting lineup as a rookie and started all 17 games at left tackle. He dealt with a few nagging injuries in 2023, starting 11 games.
By the end of 2024, he has compiled 40 career starts, but his career has been a bit of a rollercoaster in terms of performance. With undrafted Canadian tackle Theo Benedet now taking first-team snaps and rookies like second-round Ozzy Trapilo waiting in the wings, Jones’ grip on the starting LT job looks tenuous at best. Offensive line coach Dan Roushar’s recent comments were also telling.
“I thought on Friday against in Miami in the one-on-ones (in joint practice last week), and I’m not speaking out of my mouth here, I saw him set with balance, his hips were down and he used his length,” Roushar said, via Jon Greenberg of The Athletic.
“I saw a player we could win with. When I watched him Sunday, as I told him, I said, ’You reverted back to whatever this is for you, but that’s not acceptable.’ We’ll have a standard, we’ll maintain that standard or hold those guys to that standard because what he does or anybody that’s playing the left tackle, or any other position, impacts the entirety of our unit.”
More on Jones’ Recent Struggles
Jones’ struggles are compounded by the fact that he looks like a poor schematic fit under new head coach Ben Johnson. Jones’ inconsistent timing and limited fluidity in space can easily be exposed, and his missed assignments are going to have a magnified effect on both zone runs and the play action game. Johnson’s Lions offenses thrived because his tackles could transition seamlessly between schemes, something Jones has yet to prove he can do.
Johnson has also been blunt about the need for clarity up front to protect Caleb Williams, and Jones’ sloppiness—whether in the form of penalties, blown assignments or overall regression—doesn’t bode well for his future at LT. Benedet’s rise and Trapilo’s developmental upside have also made Jones’ experience less valuable than ever, especially if that experience is tethered to inconsistent play.
Ultimately, Jones will likely go down as a brief bright spot from the early Ryan Poles era rather than a long-term O-line staple. He can still win the starting LT job because no one else has stepped up enough to earn it, but early returns have not been promising.
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