This Year’s Draft OT Class vs Braxton Jones

[knoxville7]

Without an obvious upgrade. The Bears won’t be waisting the #10 pick on any of these OTs. Sorry

I’m willing to put money on it. The Bears will go BPA and it won’t be an Olinemen.

lol so theres no way the draft could play out to where the BPA is an O lineman at #10??

lmao man, you really love doubling down on silly arguments/positions

 

[BearClaw55]

lol so theres no way the draft could play out to where the BPA is an O lineman at #10??

lmao man, you really love doubling down on silly arguments/positions

Come Thursday April 24th we will see who was off.

 

[knoxville7]

Come Thursday April 24th we will see who was off.

lol how so??

if the bears take an O lineman or dont wont prove anything here

 

[Dumpster Fire]

i think Braxton Jones would demand a trade if he’s benched for a rookie, no? He’s on the verge of getting paid as a starting NFL LT by a team, whether it’s the Bears or another team remains to be seen. If Bears draft an LT at 10, I’m fine if Jones gets traded I guess. I just can’t see him quietly accepting a swing tackle role.

edit, or maybe he stays ready and healthy on the bench, knowing his future is likely on another team. I assume it hurts his future contract value to be healthy on the bench.

 

[Payton34Sayers40]

My problem with Jones is how he handles the bull rush — he gets shoved back into the QB far too much. Yet, he often manages the keep the defender in front of him while they are both falling into the QB’s legs or into the QB’s lap… so statistically it looks like he was able to stay with his man when in reality he gave his QB no shot to make a play. It was essentially a sack without it statistically being a sack. That’s why I feel you cant go by statistics with him. He will stat out higher than the reality of his actual play on the football field.

Due to his build and after so many years of trying strengthen his anchor with weight work, it is starting to look like he may always have a problem with the bull rush.

 

[DC]

Poles would be a moron to not draft an offensive lineman AND defensive front 7 player with two out of those three first draft picks.

What he does with the third, or in what order, I don't care. Get a RB. Get a WR. Or a S.

Just keep stacking beef. We're a couple of injuries away from being in the same DAMN spot.

 

[msadows]

i think Braxton Jones would demand a trade if he’s benched for a rookie, no? He’s on the verge of getting paid as a starting NFL LT by a team, whether it’s the Bears or another team remains to be seen. If Bears draft an LT at 10, I’m fine if Jones gets traded I guess. I just can’t see him quietly accepting a swing tackle role.

edit, or maybe he stays ready and healthy on the bench, knowing his future is likely on another team. I assume it hurts his future contract value to be healthy on the bench.

You are correct. Braxton may not be amazing but he's an average NFL tackle, and average or worse nfl tackles got paid 20m this FA.

He is not sitting on the bench and watching a rookie struggle.

Also, its rare that a rookie left tackle plays well. Most of them actually suck and have growing pains but teams stick with them because there is not a better option.

 

[playthrough2001]

My problem with Jones is how he handles the bull rush — he gets shoved back into the QB far too much. Yet, he often manages the keep the defender in front of him while they are both falling into the QB’s legs or into the QB’s lap… so statistically it looks like he was able to stay with his man when in reality he gave his QB no shot to make a play. It was essentially a sack without it statistically being a sack. That’s why I feel you cant go by statistics with him. He will stat out higher than the reality of his actual play on the football field.

Due to his build and after so many years of trying strengthen his anchor with weight work, it is starting to look like he may always have a problem with the bull rush.

Coming off a leg injury isn’t going to help either. They need to draft a tackle. I hope they do it at 10.

 

[DefNextYear]

i think Braxton Jones would demand a trade if he’s benched for a rookie, no? He’s on the verge of getting paid as a starting NFL LT by a team, whether it’s the Bears or another team remains to be seen. If Bears draft an LT at 10, I’m fine if Jones gets traded I guess. I just can’t see him quietly accepting a swing tackle role.

edit, or maybe he stays ready and healthy on the bench, knowing his future is likely on another team. I assume it hurts his future contract value to be healthy on the bench.

They should consider just trading him right away if they take a LT. I get it would possibly be a short term downgrade, but it is what it is. We’re probably not a SB team, so it’s the time to make moves thinking about more than just this upcoming season.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Jones is probably somewhere in the 14-18 range of best LTs in the league. I also don't think they've done him any favors in bringing in competition for him, although maybe that was supposed to be Amegadjie. You can roll into the season with him as your starter, but that needs to be done with competition in training camp.

 

[remydat]

33" and above.

Membou, Banks, Simmons all meet that requirement.

Prototypical is 34. Between 33 and 34 just means OT isnt completely ruled out.

 

[remydat]

My problem with Jones is how he handles the bull rush — he gets shoved back into the QB far too much. Yet, he often manages the keep the defender in front of him while they are both falling into the QB’s legs or into the QB’s lap… so statistically it looks like he was able to stay with his man when in reality he gave his QB no shot to make a play. It was essentially a sack without it statistically being a sack. That’s why I feel you cant go by statistics with him. He will stat out higher than the reality of his actual play on the football field.

Due to his build and after so many years of trying strengthen his anchor with weight work, it is starting to look like he may always have a problem with the bull rush.

That won't be as big a problem if the QB can step up.

The difference between Wright and Jones is Wright gives up quick pressure because he gets beat by speed clean. Jones gives up his fair share of pressures but that is generally with a defender having to fight through him. That means it takes longer and if the interior holds allows for a QB to escape.

 

[Runruffshod75]

Braxton Jones is Underappreciated: Ryan Poles’ Hidden 1st-round pick

Based on the proven quality of their tackles and the 2025 draft class, the Chicago Bears have probably finished retooling the offensive line unless they get lucky.

www.windycitygridiron.com

Those looking to replace Braxton Jones with the #10 pick. May want to rethink that.

It's really not that good. Next years OT class looks good though, really good if Lomu enters the 2026 class. Not only that but next years HB class looks like that may be even better than this years also.

 

[legendxofxlink]

FWIW, Roushar’s previous LT was Terron Armstead, a 3rd round pick. They should draft another tackle for competition, but it doesn’t have to be at 10.

 

[knoxville7]

You are correct. Braxton may not be amazing but he's an average NFL tackle, and average or worse nfl tackles got paid 20m this FA.

He is not sitting on the bench and watching a rookie struggle.

Also, its rare that a rookie left tackle plays well. Most of them actually suck and have growing pains but teams stick with them because there is not a better option.

you keep saying this over and over, but that is actually why it DOES make sense to draft a LT this draft. let him sit and learn his rookie year then to avoid him sucking his rookie year(playing your assumption that he will struggle)

by avoiding drafting one this draft, you are forcing the bears into paying jones 20+ mil per year, rolling with Kiran, or having a rookie LT drafted and playing immediately

your own logic points to needing to draft a LT if you are not comfortable with the 3 options mentioned above

 

[gallagher]

I like Banks at LT. Call me old fashioned, but I think that the need for ideal arm length and all that is more important for an offense like Cincinnati, where they put as many receivers on the field as they can. Having a stud OG and a TE next to you ready to chip goes a long way towards mitigating the lack of ideal size for your tackle. He is good at getting to the second level, and has his head on a swivel to find someone to hit. And when he gets hands on his man, I didn't see him getting backed up.

So really, I think that Banks's floor is better than what Jones gave last year. Jones could obviously be a better LT with a better guard to his right, so I wouldn't be heartbroken to pass on an OT for a top DE or DT, or even S if the coaching staff is excited for the prospect. By pouring significant resources into the OL already, I feel like the team right now has a strong offense and can afford to look to build a more suffocating defense through with their top draft picks.

 

[TL1961]

i think Braxton Jones would demand a trade if he’s benched for a rookie, no? He’s on the verge of getting paid as a starting NFL LT by a team, whether it’s the Bears or another team remains to be seen. If Bears draft an LT at 10, I’m fine if Jones gets traded I guess. I just can’t see him quietly accepting a swing tackle role.

edit, or maybe he stays ready and healthy on the bench, knowing his future is likely on another team. I assume it hurts his future contract value to be healthy on the bench.

He can say whatever he wants but he can’t demand or force a trade.

Whining that you want to leave rather than compete is a heck of a way to sell yourself as a free agent.

 

[Nelly]

I think you could all but eliminate O-line as the potential pick at #10. Poles isn't exactly known for valuing redundancy there but he is known for being a big Braxton Jones stan. On top of that, he spent a 3rd on Amegadjie to coach up and let Borom go because of that. Behind the interior guys you have Bates and Murray at the moment. So adding a versatile guy there makes tons of sense but not at #10, not that high.

I'm getting more of a feeling that Poles is targeting Jeanty at #10 but a big edge defender would be a better pick, IMO. Jones is the starting LT unless he gets hurt in training camp or something, and why not give him that chance with an all-pro now lining up next to him?

 

[TL1961]

Jones is probably somewhere in the 14-18 range of best LTs in the league. I also don't think they've done him any favors in bringing in competition for him, although maybe that was supposed to be Amegadjie. You can roll into the season with him as your starter, but that needs to be done with competition in training camp.

He’s 12th in just the group drafted 2020-2024.

I doubt he’s top 14 overall.

 

[Xplosive]

i think Braxton Jones would demand a trade if he’s benched for a rookie, no? He’s on the verge of getting paid as a starting NFL LT by a team, whether it’s the Bears or another team remains to be seen. If Bears draft an LT at 10, I’m fine if Jones gets traded I guess. I just can’t see him quietly accepting a swing tackle role.

edit, or maybe he stays ready and healthy on the bench, knowing his future is likely on another team. I assume it hurts his future contract value to be healthy on the bench.

5th round picks dont make demands about playing time, they get buried on the depth chart if they complain. What leverage does he have to demand anything?