Rare Opportunity Awaits Braxton Jones

Bears coach Matt Eberflus made it clear as the team broke minicamp for summer relaxation and misadventure that he had no fear of playing rookies or those who are inexperienced in general.

When he said this, however, the topic was defensive starters.

Playing an offensive rookie who was a Day 3 draft pick at starting left tackle is another matter entirely.

By getting Braxton Jones repetitions with starters at left tackle in minicamp, Eberflus at least admitted the possibility of this exists. Left tackle and right guard seem to be the only two Bears offensive starting positions up for grabs, although right tackle could be thrown into the mix depending on how the other offensive line spots shake out.

"I know I'm a fifth-round draft pick and everything like that but I was drafted for a reason and I'm here for a reason," Jones said. "So that's the biggest thing and it's going to be a process for sure. It's just taking day by day and getting one percent better every day."

For Jones, it was a big leap being with starters at OTAs, let alone trying it at camp.

"It's a lot of learning," Jones said. "Gotta play a lot faster, think a lot faster and that's all coming as I go. 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.

"I've struggled a little bit with that, but just having a pre-snap process, just something that will benefit me being able to move faster, but the overall jump in with the ones has been really great."

It would indeed be rare for Jones to emerge as a rookie with the starting left tackle spot as a Day 3 draft pick.

It's rare for any Day 3 draft pick to win an opening-day start on the offensive line, let alone left tackle.

Only three offensive linemen chosen in Rounds 4-7 did it in each of the last two seasons. In 2020 Jack Driscoll of the Eagles, the Patriots' Michael Onwenu and Miami's Solomon Kindley did it.

Last year's trio carries some encouragement for the Bears that it could be done with Jones. Green Bay guard Royce Newman and Steelers tackle Dan Moore accomplished it, and so did Kansas City sixth-round tackle Trey Smith. Bears GM Ryan Poles was heavily involved in identifying Smith's potential while with the KC personnel department.

The Bears haven't had much experience with something like this of late, although Day 3 linemen have received starts as rookies. Fifth-round rookie tackle Larry Borom had eight starts last year but not on opening day. He did get to play in the opener after an injury sidelined Jason Peters, but then suffered an injury himself.

Although Charles Leno Jr. was a seventh-rounder who started at left tackle for the Bears, he didn't start a game until the season finale in 2014.

Jordan Mills was the last Bears offensive line starter drafted on Day 3 who became an immediate opening-day starter at right tackle, in 2013. So it's almost been a decade since it last happened. Mills, a fifth-rounder, was quickly dispatched by new GM Ryan Pace in 2015 after two seasons of starts as he remade the roster the way he wanted it.

No one should get too carried away by those two weeks worth of snaps with the starters at left tackle for Jones, as Eberflus said all combinations are open going into camp. He would not say the players who had the last plays with starters or the most had some kind of an edge at their positions going into camp.

Jones had a spectacular 93.6 pass blocking grade last year for Southern Utah, but his experience is largely blocking RPO plays and that's a little different.

Look for the Bears to try to get something established quickly at camp. Personnel continuity—playing the same linemen with the starting group—builds cohesiveness.

"The technical mechanics to play the position, we want to hone that down," Eberflus said. "The sooner the better."

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