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Heading into the offseason, three-fifths of the Chicago Bears’ offensive line were locked in. Left guard Joe Thuney, a 2025 Pro Bowler, All-Pro, and winner of the Protecter of the Year award, was recently named the best guard in the NFL by Pro Football Focus. Right tackle Darnell Wright is one of the best young tackles in the game and is coming off a second-team All-Pro nod. And right guard Jonah Jackson, a former Pro Bowler, bounced back in a huge way as he was reunited with Ben Johnson and was just named PFF’s 18th-best guard in the league.
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We’re now a week into training camp, and Chicago’s starting five is coming into focus.
With Drew Dalamn retiring, center was up in the air, and after trading for Garrett Bradbury and drafting Logan Jones, it seemed like a camp battle was set up, but recent comments from Ben Johnson could allude to the battle being settled.
On Saturday, tight end Cole Kmet said the transition from Dalman to Bradbury has been “flawless,” and Johnson was asked his take on that earlier today.
“Yeah, he’s extremely impressive,” Johnson said. “He’s super smart. H’s played high-level football in a couple of places now, and he’s brought that here. I think what stands out the most is he’s got an elite level of communication. He is loud. He is decisive. He does a great job with seeing the defense… We’re cooking right now with him out there, so, really pleased.”
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But while Bradbury has received all the number one reps, left tackle has had a bit of a rotation during training camp.
Braxton Jones got just about all the first-string left tackle reps in the offseason, but last week, the Bears gave Kiran Amegadjie and Jedrick Wills Jr. each a day with the ones. Jones was back with the starters today, but with pads finally on this week, I would not be surprised to see Amegadjie and Wills get some more work with the starting offense.
Ben Johnson discussed what he wants to see from his left tackles this week.
“It’s consistency for me,” he said. “We’re judging the ability to block these defensive ends one-on-one. And the ability to cut off on the backside of our wide zone scheme is huge for us. I think each one of those guys is probably a little bit stronger in certain areas than the other guy. And I think when we look at it, it’s who’s the most consistent player that we feel like is going to help us on a weekly basis.”
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Johnson was asked about Wills, who sat out last season, and he said that Wills has had a “good start” to camp.
“Like I said, Braxton’s been great,” Ben continued. “Jed’s firmly in the mix. Kiran got some reps with the ones. I think Theo’s [Benedet] worth mentioning as well. I mean, I think we got a really good group of guys that continue to ascend and get better, so hopefully it’s a really difficult decision for us.”
The Bears open their preseason slate on August 15 against the Cleveland Browns, and while Johnson was noncommittal on playing starters, those three preseason games and two joint practices will be a factor in who wins the left tackle job.
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