Braxton Jones Leans on His Strengths
Don't be surprised if left tackle Braxton Jones rates a good shot at remaining with starters at left tackle in Bears training camp, or gets a real chance to compete.
The big reason is Ryan Poles knows offensive linemen as a former lineman himself, and took Jones with a purpose. Eventually Poles rates a shot at turning around the Bears offensive line, one ranked 31st among 32 teams by Pro Football Focus.
Jones talked to media at the end of minicamp and he only confirmed how Poles has an eye for what's important with blockers, particularly measurables.
For a tackle, the key is hands and arms. Having speed for the blocking scheme the Bears use can't hurt, either. Poles knows this.
Asked where he has improved the most over the draft process and early developmental phase, Jones immediately went to hands and arms.
"I think the biggest thing just my transition from college to the NFL or college to the Senior Bowl to the NFL and just in these OTAs is just throwing my hands," Jones said. "In college, I was really reserved with my hands and I didn't use my long arms to my advantage.
"So I would say that's one of the big things, and still to this day I would say I've still got to work on them. They're a big thing for me and they're gonna help me be really good in this league. I just think the biggest thing with them is being a little more consistent but they've gotten better."
Jones cited offensive line coach Chris Morgan's influence as a spark for his improvement and, again, the emphasis is on one of these defining tackle traits—his hands and arms.
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"He's been a big influence on that, just throwing them babies, letting them go," Jones said. "They're long. Just letting 'em go and he's just harping on me, and I love it because it is a big thing.
"I notice when I punch them (defenders), get them off their spot, it's huge. It helps me just recover, do anything, so just using those hands. But he's been a main influence in coaching me and being good about that and staying on it."
Jones has a better chance at success in this regard than any potential Bears starting tackle. His arm length was 85 3/8 inches and wing span 83 1/2 inches. According to mockdrafe was in the top 30% for all linemen for his draft class in hand size, top 8% for arm length and top 11% for wing span. His numbers in all of these are better than both Bears tackles Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom except his hand size is essentially the same as Borom's, or an eighth of an inch smaller.
These could very well be reasons the Bears envison Jones as a potential starting left tackle and used him there the last two weeks of spring practices while putting Jenkins with backups and moving Borom to right tackle from the left side.
"It's been great," Jones said. "It's been a good process kind of rolling in with the Ones. It's a lot of learning.
"Gotta play a lot faster, think a lot faster and that's all coming as I go."
Jones so far hasn't excelled in presnap phase.
For one, at two of the four practices media members saw he committed false-start penalties. The penalties were few and far between during OTAs and minicamp for all the Bears as they've worked diligently at coach Matt Eberflus' HITS principle. One of those principles is playing smart.
"I think the biggest thing for me is creating a process, a presnap process going up to the line, really what's the cadence, we have multiple different cadences," Jones said.
"I've struggled a little bit with that, but just having a presnap process, just something that will benefit me being able to move faster, but the overall jump in with the Ones has been really great.
"The vets are great, just helping me out, making sure I'm on the same page, making sure I'm getting certain calls that they might have that they've been using and stuff like that. So they've been great and it's been a great process."
Jones admitted to being startled initally with being on the field among starters in Week 3 of OTAs and then minicamp.
"I'll be honest with you, yeah, I was definitely a little bit surprised," Jones said. "I mean that surprise went away quick. It was thrown on me and it's time to go. It was just something where you have to take a step forward, you have to progress more quickly and I think that's good for me.
"It has been something that's really good for me to get that speed, the speed of going against guys like Roquan Smith. That's crazy, you know? Certain things like that. It has been valuable for sure."
Although he was surprised, he isn't lacking in confidence or sense of purpose
"I know I'm a fifth-round draft pick and everything like that, but I was drafted for a reason, and I think I'm here for a reason, and that's the biggest thing," Jones said. "It's going to be a process for sure. It's just taking it day-by-day and getting 1% better every day."
Whether coach Matt Eberflus would start a left tackle as a rookie might hav been open to debate before he revealed his philosophy on getting younger players on the field at the risk of hurting immediate chances.
"You're going to have to do that, you're going to have to put him in," Eberflus said about talented draft picks in general. "You're going to have to learn from mistakes and learn from practice and get the experience.
"Now as long as you're talented enough and you're a pro level starter of course those guys are going to make plays and you can see that pretty quick. I've seen that with a lot of the guys that we've started early in their career."
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