Braxton Jones LT is back

[ASHKUM BEAR]

Bears sign Braxton to a 1 year deal.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Totally good with this. I think I saw it is 5M with another 5M in incentives based upon starts. Good move and Jones should have a ton of motivation to parlay a healthy offseason into a big season into a big pay day (and eventually a comp pick for the bears :))

[adam]

A pretty low risk move. The Bears know exactly what they have and understand his health better than anyone. 

[Stinger226]

This tells me they expect Ozzy back. They tried Braxton's bonus to game starts. It's a win win. Cheap option, Decker will be getting a big payday by what other players are getting. Braxton gets to play for a big payday next year. OL Coach literally told us this in an interview.

[BearFan PHX]

If it's $5M + $5M Im Ok with it. I personally think he is deeply flawed as a LT, but if it's only $5M for depth I guess it's OK with me. I mean not that anyone but me cares about that, but still that's where Im at with it.

I hope Benedet beats him out in camp, or we draft a rookie or something else happens.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

4 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

If it's $5M + $5M Im Ok with it. I personally think he is deeply flawed as a LT, but if it's only $5M for depth I guess it's OK with me. I mean not that anyone but me cares about that, but still that's where Im at with it.

I hope Benedet beats him out in camp, or we draft a rookie or something else happens.

Jones and Wright are working out together with Arik Armstead who was an athletic freak.  He says watch out for Jones, he will be a different player. I think Poles is paying attention.

Jones was a plus run blocker, he has the size to pass block, but needs strength and footwork to handle the bull.  If he adds enough strength to improve, the  skys the limit

[BearFan PHX]

20 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

Jones and Wright are working out together with Arik Armstead who was an athletic freak.  He says watch out for Jones, he will be a different player. I think Poles is paying attention.

Jones was a plus run blocker, he has the size to pass block, but needs strength and footwork to handle the bull.  If he adds enough strength to improve, the  skys the limit

I hear ya, and for $5M, it doesnt bother me. But I dont believe he will ever be an excellent LT. I would LOVE to be wrong.

[Stinger226]

20 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

Jones and Wright are working out together with Arik Armstead who was an athletic freak.  He says watch out for Jones, he will be a different player. I think Poles is paying attention.

Jones was a plus run blocker, he has the size to pass block, but needs strength and footwork to handle the bull.  If he adds enough strength to improve, the  skys the limit

I know this is minimal but before Braxton broke his leg, he had 3 games in a row as the top rated LT in pass blocking. That was a long time ago but I trust BJ and Poles to know.

[AZ54]

1 hour ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

Jones and Wright are working out together with Arik Armstead who was an athletic freak.  He says watch out for Jones, he will be a different player. I think Poles is paying attention.

Jones was a plus run blocker, he has the size to pass block, but needs strength and footwork to handle the bull.  If he adds enough strength to improve, the  skys the limit

His hands are always late and off target.   

[ASHKUM BEAR]

14 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

His hands are always late and off target.   

He gets another shot and an offseason to work with Roushar unlike last year.  He missed mini camp, OTAs, and most of training camp, so I expect some improvement will be seen.  I recall he practiced right, but game time he resorted back to what cost him his position. That was blasted on TV from BJ, so he knows what needs fixin.

[Stinger226]

I'm sure there were some better choices at LT but finding one at 5 mil seemed like an impossible task. It's going to be a temporary solution. They know what to expect from Ozzy as far as progress after the injury and we don't.