Chicago Bears offensive tackle Jeddrick Wills Jr. (71) and running back Brittain Brown (38). Getty
Chicago Bears linebacker Ruben Hyppolite led the team with 7 tackles against the Cleveland Browns before exiting with a shoulder injury. Getty
With preseason underway, the 53-man roster cutdown date gets closer. The Chicago Bears have several positional battles ongoing as they get closer to the season. One of these is to determine how many offensive linemen they will keep and who exactly will remain.
One of the players battling for a spot is former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. The Bears signed Wills Jr. to a one-year, $1.2 million contract this offseason. The former top-ten 2020 NFL Draft pick was a staple for Cleveland's offensive line whenever he played. Wills started 57 of 58 career games.
Unfortunately, despite having a good start to his career, injuries began to limit him. He played in just 13 total games during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. As a result, Wills decided to sit out the entire 2025 season to let his body fully heal.
Now entering 2026 at full health, he's been engaged in a positional battle with Kiran Amegadjie for the final rotational line piece.
Ozzy Trapilo and Braxton Jones are expected to battle for the starting left tackle position.
The Bears' first preseason game was a chance for Wills to separate himself from Amegadjie; however, it appears as though that opportunity might have been squandered.
GettyChicago Bears offensive tackle Jeddrick Wills Jr. (71) and running back Brittain Brown (38).
Following the Bears' first preseason performance, ironically against Wills' former team, Sports Illustrated's Jerry Markarian released the third version of his 53-man roster projection for Chicago. One of the bigger changes in this iteration was Wills not making the team.
"Jedrick Wills Jr. flat-out did not play well against his former team," Markarian wrote.
"He was overpowered on a few occasions and was directly involved in the most negative plays on offense. Meanwhile, Kiran Amegadjie wasn't notably caught out of position at any point. He didn't have any flashy moments, but that's not the bar for an offensive tackle. With him being a former third-round pick who has two years left on his deal, Wills would have to be noticeably better to gain the edge, and he wasn't that on Saturday."
Wills' fall off the roster wasn't the only projection that changed from Markarian's previous versions.
GettyChicago Bears linebacker Ruben Hyppolite led the team with 7 tackles against the Cleveland Browns before exiting with a shoulder injury.
In his third rendition of the Bears' roster prediction, Markarian had linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II making the team over Tony Fields II.
Hyppolite was the team's fourth-round draft selection just last season. His rookie campaign comprised only seven games where he recorded just six tackles and no other notable stats.
The Bears front office saw a much clearer image of Hyppolite's potential against the Browns than perhaps all of last year.
"Ruben Hyppolite II was all over the field against Cleveland," Markarian wrote.
"He played a LOT of snaps (which could mean they see this preseason as sink-or-swim for him), and didn't really have any glaringly bad ones. With the Bears already cutting ties with Zah Frazier , who they selected in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, they won't want to get rid of the guy they selected one round earlier if they didn't have to. However, they clearly aren't the type to force it if he's not improving . With one preseason game in the books, it seems like they might not have to."
It's worth noting that Hyppolite did exit the Browns' game early after sustaining a shoulder injury, although the severity is currently unknown. It appears as though the progress he made before leaving was enough to convince at least Markarian that he deserves another year on the team.
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