The Chicago Bears plan to start former draft pick Kiran Amegadjie at left tackle in the preseason opener. He is expected to play about half of the game as well. Last year, he appeared to be out of the mix, but this year it seems the coaching staff is much more impressed with him.
Head coach Ben Johnson noted that he has seen improvement from last year to this year. However, there is still room for him to grow.
Ben Johnson on Kiran Amegadjie's camp: "I've seen improvement but glimpses where we need the consistency to be a bit better."
— CHGO Bears (@CHGO_Bears) August 13, 2026
Chicago Bears are seeing improvement from Kiran Amegadjie
The fact that they are seeing improvement and pushing him into this training camp battle says a lot about how far he has come. Most Bears fans were ready to write him off as a draft bust, but now he is in the mix to be an impactful player.
Amegadjie was expected to be a bit of a project when the Bears selected him 75th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Yale. However, he might have come into the NFL more raw than they initially expected.
Amegadjie played 126 snaps in his rookie season, starting just one game. However, it did not go well. Then, the coaching staff changed. So, the offensive staff that drafted him was gone, and the project player had to learn new things on the fly.
It makes sense why the team did not have him involved in a wide-open competition at left tackle last season. The Bears started three different options at left tackle last year, and two of them are back on the roster this year. None of them are Amegadjie, who appears to have a better chance to start than Theo Benedet, who made eight starts for Chicago last season.
Some of the reason is that Braxton Jones is hurt, but Amegadjie will be one of two players to play the entire game at left tackle. He will be platooning with former first-round pick Jedrick Wills.
Still, this is a massive opportunity for the third-year player. As Johnson noted, the improvement is impossible to deny, but the consistency still needs to show up for him to be considered a starter.
Coming into the NFL as a raw player from Yale and changing offenses throughout your first two seasons can lead to inconsistency. Still, this offseason was much more stable. So, as he continues to see the stability and continues to get more work, those issues could go away. That is what the Bears should be watching.
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