Bears Activate OT Ozzy Trapilo Off PUP List, Adding to LT Competition
Defying a grim recovery timeline, Chicago Bears' former second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo returns off the PUP list to join the left tackle battle.
Video Transcript
What's going on everybody?
Nicholas Moriano here from Round Table Sports.
Some breaking news here.
The Chicago Bears are activating left tackle Ozzy Trapillo off the physically unable to perform list, the team announced on Sunday afternoon.
Now, this is big news for the Bears' offensive line, but specifically the left tackle position that's currently still trying to figure out who's gonna be the day one starter for the week one matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
Now, Trapillo ruptured his patellar tendon in the Bears' wildcard game against the Green Bay Packers in January.
And now he's being activated off the PUP list, which I don't think a lot of people would have seen coming, especially after what Ryan Poles, the general manager, said during the NFL Scouting Combine in February, saying that the former Boston College offensive tackle would, quote, "miss most of the year" because of this injury.
And now, Ryan Poles has also had recent comments stating that there's a bunch of different scenarios for Ozzy, Ozzy Trapillo, and that whether he can come back and he's a little bit in training camp, if he comes back in September, the big thing is getting padded practices, and that's a huge shift from missing most of the year to now being activated off the PUP list just ahead of this week's practices, the joint practice against the Cincinnati Bengals.
You still have two preseason games left and two joint practices.
This could be the perfect time for Ozzy Trapillo to get re-acclimated into football shape, get into these padded practices, and insert hims- himself into the left tackle competition.
Now, there have been plenty of players that have had torn or ruptured patellar tendons.
One that's most recently that I think is a notable comparison is Los Angeles Chargers left tackle, Rashawn Slater.
He didn't play a single game in the twenty-twenty-five season after his, he tore his patellar tendon in August, missed that entire year.
Ozzy Trapillo ruptures his patellar tendon in January, and he's back in August being activated off the PUP list.
So this is, I think, huge news for the Bears and huge news for this left tackle competition.
Ben Johnson also said after the preseason win over the Cleveland Browns that Braxton Jones would be back from his injury within this week.
He was the guy that had the most reps with the first team starting offense before his injury.
So now there is more competition being added to this left tackle battle.
These next few weeks are obviously gonna be really important.
The Bears have also said, Ben Johnson specifically, that they'll do whatever it takes to figure out who's gonna be the left, starting left tackle.
Last season, it was five days before the week one matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, they named the starter in Braxton Jones.
So I think that this competition's far from being over, and now it gets a lot more interesting now that Trapillo and Jones are coming back to compete for the starting left tackle job.
