Sports

Possible left tackle option for Bears should be put to bed for good

Bear Goggles On · Jul 20, 2026 21:00 · 3 min read

Possible left tackle option for Bears should be put to bed for good — Chicago Bears offensive tackle Darnell Wright | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Chicago Bears have a battle at left tackle for the second straight training camp, but one vague possibility to play the position must be put to bed.

For a stretch of last season, it looked like the Chicago Bears had their long-term answer at one of the most important positions on the field. Ozzy Trapilo seized the opportunity at left tackle when it came his way, leaving any other possible options in his wake.

Then, when Trapilo suffered a torn patellar tendon late in the Wild Card Round win over the Green Bay Packers, those plans were altered for this year. Trapilo is expected to miss a big chunk of the season, if not the entire campaign. His long-term outlook could be considered iffy due to the nature of the injury, but we aren't having that discussion yet.

On the July 17 edition of ESPN 1000's "Kap and J. Hood", co-host Jonathan Hood and fill-in co-host Tom Thayer discussed Courtney Cronin's list of five Bears players with the most at stake for training camp.

Braxton Jones, the current favorite to start at left tackle this season, made Cronin's list. Hood expressed some exhaustion as we head into a second straight Bears training camp with a battle for who will protect Caleb Williams' blindside. Then, Thayer took things in a different direction.

"Penei Sewell is moving to left tackle in Detroit", Thayer said. "Are you willing to invest any discussion in Darnell Wright trying some reps at left tackle if that player is not identified?"

Wood was willing to have that discussion. He made reference to Bears general manager Ryan Poles offering Wright as an option at left tackle, unprompted, two years ago, toward the end of Matt Eberflus' tenure as head coach.

Moving Darnell Wright to left tackle has to be put to bed for good

Before the 2025 draft, Poles was asked about Wright as an option at left tackle and made it clear it was up for discussion.

So maybe there was an unprompted comment from Poles about moving Wright to left tackle two years ago. But it was directly asked about a little over a year ago, and fairly quickly dismissed by Poles himself with the notion that Trapilo, then just drafted, would be among the competitors at left tackle.

It's unclear if Wright got any snaps at left tackle during training camp last year, but any attempt to revive the idea of him as the possible starting left tackle never got far.

Thayer reinforced that Jones is the leader in the clubhouse at left tackle entering camp this year, much like he was a year ago, but he has to prove that expectation to be correct. Wood then offered an idea.

"Is it easier to replace the left tackle than the right tackle?", Wood said. "If Darnell (Wright) went to the left tackle, do you have a right tackle in place, ready to go?"

Thayer was broadly on board with that concept, offering Theo Benedet and Kiran Amegadjie as potentially workable options at right tackle. But the former Bears offensive lineman finished with a sentiment that should squash the idea of moving Wright to left tackle once and for all.

"Two years ago, Darnell Wright was not the player that he is now."

Wright has become one of the best right tackles in the NFL, and he'll soon have a contract to reflect that. It's not a question of whether he could play left tackle and do so at a high level, because he played the position some in college, and he definitely could figure it out.

But why move Wright from his most comfortable and best position if you don't absolutely have to entertain it? That's something previous Bears coaching staffs would have done, and we're past those kinds of inexplicable decisions now.