30 Most Important Bears of 2025: Braxton Jones (No. 12)

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a day ago

The Chicago Bears are gearing up for an exciting 2025 NFL season, which features some new faces within the organization poised to get the franchise back to its winning ways. That starts with the hiring of Ben Johnson as head coach, as well as overhauling the interior offensive line, adding pieces on defense and a potenital impactful rookie draft class.
Every day from now right up through training camp, we're counting down our 30 Most Important Bears for the 2025 season. We'll recap their 2024 season, look ahead to 2025 and tackle the biggest question facing them this year.
At No. 12 is Braxton Jones, a player whose starting spot is currently up in the air at the moment, but someone who could be crucial to the Bears' success in 2025.
Background
Position: Offensive tackle
Age: 26
Experience: 4th season
2025 cap hit: $3.73 million
2024 recap
Jones began last season as the Bears' starting left tackle for the third year in a row and once again proved capable of being an average offensive lineman in the NFL when healthy. The Bears' offensive line was nothing to write home about in 2024, but they were at their best when Jones was on the field. Unfortunately, that wasn't as often as they would have liked. Jones played in 12 games and finished 10 of them due to multiple injuries. The worst one came in Week 16 when he was lost for the season with a fractured ankle. He allowed five sacks and two quarterback hits in 719 offensive snaps.
2025 outlook
Jones' 2025 season is up in the air for multiple reasons. For one, he's still rehabbing from his ankle injury and has had to miss the spring practices while he heals up. There's real concern he won't be ready for training camp, and he could start on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. Two, Jones may not even be the starter when he's fully healthy. General manager Ryan Poles has talked about the need for competition at left tackle, and Jones has a couple of challengers who are threatening to take his spot. To make matters even more complicated, Jones is entering the final year of his rookie contract. There's no doubt he'll want to cash in next offseason, and riding the bench won't help him out.
Big question: Will Jones be the starting left tackle?
The Bears don't have too many position battles, but they have one big one on their offensive line. With Jones still on the mend, a couple of younger players could emerge as starters at left tackle. The Bears selected Ozzy Trapilo in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and he has impressed early on. Second-year tackle Kiran Amegadjie is also in consideration for the job after showing some promise during an up-and-down rookie year. Jones is the most accomplished of them all, but he will lose more ground every day he can't practice. If and when he returns, can he do enough to retain his starting job? This will be a storyline throughout camp and may take some time to get resolved.
30 Most Important Bears of 2025
#30 - RB Roschon Johnson
#29 - QB Case Keenum
#28 - K Cairo Santos
#27 - DT Andrew Billings
#26 - CB Tyrique Stevenson
#25 - WR Luther Burden III
#24 - RG Jonah Jackson
#23 - LB Tremaine Edmunds
#22 - DE Dayo Odeyingbo
#21 - S Kevin Byard
#20 - S Jaquan Brisker
#19 - LB T.J. Edwards
#18 - TE Cole Kmet
#17 - DT Grady Jarrett
#16 - DT Gervon Dexter
#15 - RB D'Andre Swift
#14 - TE Colston Loveland
#13 - OT Ozzy Trapilo
#12 - OT Braxton Jones
#11 - Coming 7/19
#10 - Coming 7/20
#9 - Coming 7/21
#8 - Coming 7/22
#7 - Coming 7/23
#6 - Coming 7/24
#5 - Coming 7/25
#4 - Coming 7/26
#3 - Coming 7/27
#2 - Coming 7/28
#1 - Coming 7/29
This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: 30 Most Important Bears of 2025: Braxton Jones (No. 12)