A true winner of the Bears’ offseason is difficult to determine. Caleb Williams is the next great quarterback prospect for an avid football fandom and the first overall pick in this year’s draft. He is already well-liked in his hometown. You have Rome Odunze, the great draft coup of the Bears, who is already adored by his hometown and has the ideal route tree.
Jaylon Johnson and his new contract, Matt Eberflus and his beard, and Shane Waldron with his new All-Pro wide receiver are also worth mentioning. Not to mention, as a fan, you now have the chance to spend more money on Bears merchandise. However, there can only be one real offseason victor, and we now know who that is courtesy of ESPN. The definitive source is the most recent item published by ESPN under the heading “2024 NFL draft winners, losers: Players impacted by rookie picks.” ESPN breaks out the results by team to identify some winners and some losers in the article. The Bears, of course, had a winner. Moreover, his name is Braxton Jones. Their justification is as follows: “Jones, who has fought valiantly since being selected in the fifth round of the 2022 selection, appears to have the opportunity to play left tackle if top tackles Olu Fashanu and Amarius Mims are passed over at No. 9. In 2022, the Bears truly had no choice but to play such an unknown man on the blindside of their quarterback. Most teams wouldn’t tolerate that. Jones seems to have done enough to regain his starting position in 2024 after missing six games in the previous campaign. If Jones keeps Williams safe this season and is available for an extension in 2025, he should be paid more than $20 million a year in his next contract, with the Bears or another team.”
Although Jones causes controversy among Bears supporters, it’s difficult to disagree with ESPN’s main premise. Aside from penalties and injury concerns, he has performed admirably given that he was selected in the fifth round out of Southern Utah and was essentially placed in one of the most difficult positions on the football field from the start. He is undoubtedly a winner.
But now that the Caleb Williams’ Bear Claw party is really getting going, we’re all winners. It seemed likely that the Bears will never lose again with all these clear winners.
