Braxton Jones was something that nobody saw coming. When the Chicago Bears took him out of Southern Utah in the 5th round, they saw a talented young blocker with loads of developmental promise. Nothing more. Fast forward a few months, and he was suddenly their starting left tackle. That didn’t change in training camp or the preseason. Despite the obvious risks, the coaching staff decided to let him run with the opportunity.
Unsurprisingly, his first six games have been a mixed back. He’s had two rough performances in the past month, including six pressures allowed against Washington. At the same time, he allowed five total in back-to-back road games against Minnesota and New York. Nobody would say he’s dominated, but he hasn’t been a liability. That is hard to understand, considering he mainly played FCS competition in college.
Part of the reason for that is how mature he is for his age. It is easy to see that from how he spoke to Jeff Joniak during his Player Profile interview.
Braxton Jones faces quite the gauntlet to come.
He’ll tangle with New England Patriots star Matthew Judon on Monday night in New England. Then he’ll get a healthy dose of Micah Parsons next week in Dallas. Say this for the NFL. It never does anything piecemeal. Either you sink, or you swim. Teams don’t have the luxury of time to let you figure it out. It falls on the players to meet the challenges. Jones has already overachieved to this point. Whether that is enough to keep the job beyond 2022 remains to be seen.
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GM Ryan Poles can’t ignore how rough the offensive line has looked this season. Changes are coming. The only question is where. Nobody would be shocked if three or four new faces could be on the front by this time next year. Whether Braxton Jones is one of the survivors depends on how he handles the final 11 games. There won’t be many opportunities to rest. Every opponent knows he’s a rookie and will send their best pass rusher against him. He can’t let himself get overwhelmed.
