Braxton Jones looks first up at LT, but he'll have to win the job every week

Bears defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, who was general manager Ryan Poles' biggest expenditure in free agency in 2025 (three years, $48 million, $32 million guaranteed), has been notably quiet in training camp and in the preseason, but perhaps never so painfully ineffective as Friday night against the Chiefs.

Odeyingbo not only was stymied against the Chiefs, but he was working mostly against Chiefs rookie offensive tackle Josh Simmons, a first-round draft pick (32nd overall) who is looking more and more like the plug-and-play left tackle the Bears were looking for.

It's hard to quarrel with the Bears' strategy in the draft. Michigan tight end Colston Loveland (No. 10 overall) and Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden (No. 39 overall) look like potentially dangerous weapons in coach Ben Johnson's offense. And after trading down from No. 41 to No. 56, they addressed the uncertainty at left tackle by taking Boston College offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo.

They were banking on Trapilo making a quick transition to left tackle in the NFL after being better at right tackle in college. With Braxton Jones coming off ankle surgery, it was all but Trapilo's job to lose in the battle with Jones and 2024 third-round pick Kiran Amegadjie. And lose it, he did. After just three weeks, the Bears moved Trapilo to right tackle behind starter Darnell Wright.

Trapilo already looks more comfortable and significantly better at right tackle, which might or might not open the door for Wright to move to the left side — as was anticipated, if not considered by the Bears, when Trapilo was drafted. That's not Wright's best position, but the former No. 10 overall pick (2023) is good enough to make the transition. And a Wright-Trapilo left/right combination at tackle might ultimately be better than anything else the Bears can put together.

It's probably too late for that — though the Bears once moved two-time Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long to right tackle the week of the 2015 opener under John Fox, so you never know. So as it stands, Jones likely will start Week 1 and the Bears will keep their fingers crossed — hoping perhaps that playing next to All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney will give Jones a little bit of a cushion.

Then again, that's what the Chiefs thought last year when they had a similar quandary at left tackle as the Bears have this year. Kingsley Suamataia, a rookie second-round pick, beat out Wanya Morris, a second-year third-round pick, for the starting job. But even playing next to Thuney, it didn't work out. Suamataia was benched in Week 3. Morris replaced him and was benched in the second half of a Week 13 victory over the Raiders.

Veteran D.J. Humphries, who was signed the previous week as an emergency option, started at left tackle in Week 14, but he suffered a hamstring injury and was not good enough to start when he returned. Thuney started at left tackle in the playoffs, and it held together until the Super Bowl, when Patrick Mahomes was overwhelmed as the Chiefs offensive line — Thuney included — struggled to fend off the Eagles' defensive front.

The Chiefs drafted Simmons in the first round (at No. 32 after dropping one spot in a trade with the Eagles) and has acclimated himself well in the preseason — playing next to Suamataia, who replaced Thuney at left guard.

The regular season can be a different story, especially for rookies. But this is looking like the kind of win that is typical of the Chiefs' good fortune in the Mahomes era. Simmons was projected to be a higher first-round pick before he suffered a season-ending knee injury and fell to the Chiefs at No. 32.

The Bears have not been averse to taking injury risks in the draft — Loveland was coming off shoulder surgery and they took Amegadjie coming off quad surgery at Yale in 2024. But Simmons or any dedicated left tackle just wasn't in the cards. At No. 10, the Bears were one pick short of Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks (currently starting for the Saints). They had the 39th and 41st picks, but Simmons went to the Chiefs at No. 32.

It remains to be seen if the Bears rue the day they didn't go all out for the best left tackle they could get in the draft. The record shows that it's easier to develop a receiver than an offensive tackle in Johnson's offense. In 2021, the Lions took offensive tackle Penei Sewell at No. 7 after wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase went to the Bengals at No. 5 and don't regret missing out on Chase. Sewell is a two-time All-Pro, one of the best tackles in the NFL at 24. Meanwhile, Johnson's offense has made a star out of wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, a fourth-round pick in 2021 who is a three-time Pro Bowl player. The three lineman with the Lions who were starters in all three seasons under Johnson are all first-round guys — Sewell (1-7 in 2021), center Frank Ragnow (1-20 in 2018) and left tackle Taylor Decker (1-16 in 2016).

So while Jones is likely to start at left tackle against the Vikings on Sept. 8, he'll have to win the job every week. Ben Johnson seems like the kind of coach won't hesitate to use every option he has in order to find one that works.

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