The Bears left tackle position battle has been a long one. We’ve seen first-team rotations at that spot since the spring, before and after incumbent starter Braxton Jones returned from an ankle injury.

Ozzy Trapilo, a second-round pick this year, and Kiran Amegadjie, a third rounder in the previous draft, were provided the opportunity to compete for an essentially open spot.

The dust kind of settled on that, with Trapilo moved to his more natural right tackle spot last week and Amegadjie primarily with the third unit since returning from a small injury stint.

Jones wasn’t declared the starter at that point, not after a lackluster preseason game versus Miami. He wasn’t even exclusively a first teamer in practice.

The Bears gave unheralded first-year pro Theo Benedet some time with the top unit.

“I’ve been very, very excited about Theo and what he’s done, both on the right and the left side,” head coach Ben Johnson said on Friday. “I know that he was probably overlooked to start this competition, but the longer this thing’s gone on, there’s a strong argument for what he’s put on tape.”

Enter Benedet, a 2024 undrafted free agent from the University of British Columbia, where the Thunderbirds play Canadian football. Benedet showed well against American competition at the East-West Shrine game, which put him on the map during the pre-draft process. He didn’t get selected, but the Bears respected him enough to sign him after the draft.

While he had a viral moment on “Hard Knocks” last summer, Benedet wasn’t seen much outside of that due to injury and a prolonged stretch on the Bears practice squad.

He hasn’t yet played an NFL game, so Johnson and everyone else can excused for not having Benedet on their bingo card this spring. Benedet has had a good summer, slowly rising up the ranks after performing well against better and better competition.

Then came a solid preseason game versus Miami, where he got praised by NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger in one of his popular film breakdowns.

Benedet has continued to compete with Jones for the top spot, though he has versatility to be a solid swing tackle as well. Johnson said Sunday’s preseason game against the Bills would be a major evaluation point, though Jones played exclusively with the first unit.

Benedet relieved Jones, played through the first half with the second team and seemed to fare well. He has clearly impressed his bosses of late, including offensive line coach Dan Roushar.

“There’s a lot of things to really like about Theo,” Roushar said. “He’s had probably as much improvement as any player we have in the group. With that, there’s a lot of things for him to improve on and he knows that and we’ve gotta work on it. He is working his tail off. He has put himself in a position to go compete for a job somewhere in this group.”

Benedet will compete for a role, though it seems like the Bears want Jones to take the firm control of the starting spot. Jones’ experience would seem to weigh heavily in this equation, considering he’s a three-year starter.

The 23-year-old Benedet will be a factor on cut-down day, forcing some hard decisions regarding offensive line roster construction, while fighting for a role as a swing tackle or someone to seriously challenge Jones for the top spot

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