The Chicago Bears travel to play the Baltimore Ravens in a tilt on Sunday. During this four-game win streak for Chicago, the Bears made some changes to the starting lineup.
It included moving Braxton Jones to the bench in favor of Theo Benedet. After a solid start, his play last week against the New Orleans Saints was a step back. Nonetheless, Benedet is still going to get the start at left tackle, and Jones' injury status has been downgraded. On Wednesday, he was limited with a knee, but on Thursday, he was listed as a DNP.
While it's never great to see a player deal with any sort of injury, it looks like this one could be good for value on the trade block.
Braxton Jones Not Practicing May Be Good for His Trade Value
We still have to see Friday's injury report, but if Jones were to miss this game, that would be wise. Even though he's not the starter, that doesn't mean he wouldn't have to come in and play if someone were to go down with an injury.
It's clear that his knee is bothering him, which is why he went from limited to not practicing at all. It could have been a rest day to get him time off his knee, but this is something worth keeping an eye on.
Not having to play on an injured knee is ideal and would help his trade stock. Playing on a bum knee puts an offensive lineman at a disadvantage and could make his production worse. That, in part, would worsen his perception around the league as the trade deadline approaches on Nov. 4.
Jones is in the final year of his rookie deal. Despite being their starter for the last three years, it's been a different story under Ben Johnson and his coaching staff. Teams are always looking for starting-caliber offensive linemen, and they are hard to come by. That's exactly what Jones can bring to the table, so it might be in his and the team's best interest to let him rest this week.
They still have rookie OT Ozzy Trapilo as a depth option in case somebody goes down. The trade deadline is quickly approaching, so any sort of long-term injury would remove a player from the block. And Chicago doesn't want that to be the case with Jones.