The last thing tackle Braxton Jones needed during training camp and preseason while engaged in a three-way fight for a starting spot was a knee injury or injury of any kind.
He suffered knee pain anyway, but Jones considers himself fortunate to have gotten through it quickly and has emerged ready to take on the Carolina Panthers as starter in Sunday's opener. How long he'll be in that starting role is the real uncertainty.
"Just a small little thing that I've always kind of dealt with, just my right knee, pushing off but nothing big," Jones said Tuesday in the Bears ' locker room. "I was very frustrated because I know every rep counts, everything is being watched. It was important to me. As I realized, that was probably perfect for me and I was able to come back and finish this camp strong."
Jones called the pain only tendinitis. It had nothing to do with the ankle injury he suffered late in 2024 that caused his start to 2025 to be a disaster.
"I think we all deal with it," Jones said. "Some it's just more painful than others. I just needed to do a better job managing it."
Jones thinks more has changed over last year at this time than having a healthy knee and ankle. One thing that hasn't is he is in a contract year again, just like last year.
"I think last year, as I was going in as the starter, I just was looking at the bigger picture instead of just taking every single rep as gold and evaluating each and every day," he said. "As I come in off this first practice, I'm going to evaluate all those reps and go over that and then kind of just go through my process.
"When I have a good process each week and stay true to that, I think everything comes together on Sunday."
He's going to need that approach and emphasis Sunday because 2025 starter Ozzy Trapilo has arrived back on the 53-man roster ahead of schedule. Perhaps a real measure of whether Trapilo is ready yet to step in and play if Jones has injury issues or backslides with production will be if the Bears activate him for game day.
It seems unlikely at the moment, considering his practice time has been limited going into this week to individual drills or multiple-player drills using blocking dummies. They've spared him the real contact work.
Johnson may have called Jones the starter, but he also put an asterisk there. It's that they need to maintain a starter's level during the week. Jones sees no reason to think it can turn out otherwise by game day.
"Yeah, you know I'm incredibly proud of myself," Jones said. "I came off that Tennessee joint practice, which was crazy, and I just said the same thing: I'm proud of myself for fighting back. That's a great accomplishment.
"Not a lot of fifth rounders get the opportunity to do that and I think I'm going to continue to try to seize that moment and do the work that nobody's watching me do and I think everything will take care of itself. But yeah, I am proud of myself.
All of this positive outlook on Jones' situation might seem repetitious. This is because he has tried to be positive heading into each season.
However, the Bears thought he'd be fine last year and it went south in a hurry. As a result, it's going to be on Jones to prove every week he still belongs out there ahead of Trapilo.
"I'm still challenged each and every day," Jones said. "I'm still challenged by this football team each and every day.
"So I'm still growing and always will be for the rest of my life. But from this injury to the position battle, I'm just so grateful because I've learned so much about myself and how much stronger I really am than I thought I was."
Now, Jones needs to show the Bears he really is as strong as he thinks he is.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/bears/onsi as Why Bears Tackle Braxton Jones Feels Capable of Keeping Starting Job .
