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Top 26 Chicago Bears of 2026: Evidence of Ozzy Trapilo Recovery Surfaces

A video of tackle Ozzy Trapilo working on rehab from a patellar tendon injury is fueling optimism of his return at some point later in the 2026 Bears season.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ozzy Trapilo surprised with his pass blocking last year as a rookie and works now toward recovery from a patellar tendon injury.
Ozzy Trapilo surprised with his pass blocking last year as a rookie and works now toward recovery from a patellar tendon injury. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

Amid a weekend celebrating the nation's 250th birthday came something to enhance the joy of Chicago Bears fans.

Taken in its proper context, a video on Instagram of left tackle Ozzy Trapilo doing strength training of various types can easily be overemphasized. No one should be overly encouraged to the point of assuming the 2025 second-round pick will be available to play this season.

However, Trapilo, 19th on the Chicago Bears OnSI list of the team's top 26 players for 2026, had barely been mentioned and not seen throughout offseason work following his patellar tendon injury in the playoff win over Green Bay.

This was the first real indication he might be on the road to recovery in time to contribute something in 2026.

"We have open competition at tackle, guys that have played a lot of football and we feel confident that those guys will compete and the best guy will win at that left tackle position," coach Ben Johnson said when team workouts began. "And then obviously we feel really good about what Ozzy did before he got injured and we like where he's at in his recovery."

A patellar tendon injury could be serious enough to anticipate Trapilo wouldn't return until 2027. However, it's also possible he'd be available later on, possibly in the second half of the season. All depends on how his rehab goes, and that's why this video takes on significance. It's the first visiual evidence he could be progressing.

Trapilo wasn't perfect as the Bears left tackle last year but succeeded best in stabilizing the left side after Braxton Jones' failure to return from 2024 ankle surgery.

It could be possible they don't need to rush Trapilo's recovery if Jones returns to his past form at the position. However, having Trapilo would at least let coaches decide who handles left tackle better for the future. Jones is back in Chicago only on a one-year deal after becoming an unrestricted free agent in March. He will battle Theo Benedet, newcomer Kedrick Wills Jr. and Kiran Amegadjie for the position while Trapilo recovers.

Trapilo's size make him an ideal NFL left tackle even though he had been at right tackle most of the time at Boston College. He displayed great ability to use his size and slide outside to pick up edge rushers coming around the side, but had enough power to handle the inside moves.

Trapilo even earned Myles Garrett's respect in the Bears' rout of Cleveland, although he did allow x sacks in the game.

Pro Football Focus evaluated his performance as best when pass blocking and ranked him 37th out of 89 tackles last year. His run blocking was considered less productive. He ranked 50th of 89 tackles. If Jones is entirely healthy and in his old form, Trapilo would be hard-pressed to be better unless he improves drastically over his rookie PFF grades. Jones' grades were superior, especially as a run blocker.

However, Jones did something throughout his time as starter that Trapilo had a knack for avoiding. This is something entirely valuable for tackles, and that's avoid penalties. He had only two penalties in 490 plays as a rookie. Jones has had 22 penalties in 2,694 plays over four seasons.

Will it mean anything? Jones will have his chance this season to show he is better than the 8% rate he posted in relation to the 4% rate Trapilo had. The injury would no doubt limit Trapilo's effectiveness should he eventually get cleared to play, at least until 2027.

The future isn't even certain for Tapilo yet, but there is hope as he rehabs.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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