The Chicago Bears put a lot of effort into revamping their offensive line this offseason, but the one question that remained was at offensive tackle. The Bears were returning both of their starters in Darnell Wright and Braxton Jones, but it didn’t stop them from making an intriguing addition in second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo.
Trapilo started well out of the gates but ultimately played himself out of a starting role when Jones recovered from an ankle injury. Now at right tackle, an opportunity for Trapilo to start may have opened up when Wright was ruled out of Chicago’s Week 4 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders with an elbow injury. But that’s unlikely to be the case as The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain speculated that Theo Benedet will get the start and Trapilo will be inactive in his latest mailbag.
“No player has improved more in the past year than Benedet, who put himself into the left tackle competition this summer,” Fishbain wrote. There’s something to be said for the organization for having someone like Benedet in this position. Then again, it is concerning that a second-round tackle can’t even be active.”
Bears Draft Pick Ozzy Trapilo Can’t Crack the Active Roster
Trapilo came in with some promise out of Boston College, but outside of training camp, it hasn’t translated to the field. Trapilo appeared to take the lead in the left tackle battle after the infamous “King of the Mountain” practice at the beginning of August, but Jones regained his starting position after Trapilo posted a 63.1 overall grade and allowed two pressures on 56 pass-blocking snaps.
While Trapilo could have performed worse, Fishbain also noted that there was a concern that the rookie took a step back during camp after his early surge which led to his move to back to the right side of the offensive line. But the move hasn’t helped him see the field as he’s been inactive the past two weeks.
“That’s not an abnormal occurrence for a rookie, but someone with Trapilo’s size and his supposed polished technique shouldn’t need more than a month to get back up the depth chart,” Fishbain said. “I thought we’d see him as an extra lineman to get him those game reps. Instead, it’s been Benedet. It’s a several-things-can-be-true conclusion: Benedet’s ascent is encouraging, Trapilo’s step back is discouraging, but it’s still very early in his career.”
Losing out to Benedet is one concern but not even being active over Kiran Amegadjie is another. As it stands now, only one player will be on the active roster when the Bears kick off against the Raiders and it’s looking more like Trapilo could need a long acclimation process to fill the role Chicago thought he would fill when they selected him in April’s draft.