Braxton Jones - OL Diamond in the rough?

[IotaNet]

Interesting prognostication about a late-round OL prospect…

https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-b ... ft-tackle/

[Stormtrooper]

From things I have read he has done very well so far this offseason and we absolutely, I mean abso-freaking-lutely lol need some help on the OL. Will know a bit more about his future when gets some pads on and goes at it, but I'm eager to see how he progesses.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Flus/Poles have made it clear.
Players are going to be evaluated - primarily on their tape/performances.

They don’t prioritise experience, they don’t prioritise your history they don’t prioritise your draft status.

It’s on performance, end of story. Prove yourself on the field and you’ll get snaps, underperform and you won’t.

Same for everyone, no preconceptions

[dplank]

I liked his demeanor and attitude on his interview that’s up on the Bears site. Humble and hungry.

[Grizzled]

Flus/Poles have made it clear.
Players are going to be evaluated - primarily on their tape/performances.

They don’t prioritise experience, they don’t prioritise your history they don’t prioritise your draft status.

It’s on performance, end of story. Prove yourself on the field and you’ll get snaps, underperform and you won’t.

Same for everyone, no preconceptions

Flus has made it clear, he welcomes any players giving everything. He’s opened the doors for rookies to stand out and win positions on the team.

[Moriarty]

In the OL thread, there's a quote about him working with the 1s being deliberately planned evaluation, not a case of him outshinning everyone already.

I think he was a great value for a late 5, but even if you think he should have been (let's say) early 4, the odds on landing a quality T from there aren't particularly high, so don't start penciling him in for 10 yrs of LT just yet.

[Bearfacts]

QUOTE: " If he’d gone to Alabama, Ohio State, or USC, would he have been a 5th round pick?"

I've asked this question before and what I got as an answer is that he'd have played RT or he'd have played behind __________.

I don't necessarily buy that. He's got all of the tools you'd like to see in an NFL LT. What he doesn't have is the benefit of coaching in a high level BCS college program and the experience of playing against that level of competition. He'll get that now when Quinn arrives.

Another reason given for his lower draft status is that his junior game tapes were better than his senior tapes which may have led some to feel he'd regressed but his work against the best during Senior Bowl week caught some teams attention, and Poles as well.

I hope they give him a significant amount of work with the first team during camp. I'd really like to see what he can do because I have a good feeling about him. He comes across as very intelligent and mature during his interviews and he wants to make a difference.

FWIW Dane Brugler had him ranked as a 4th round pick where he was right in the mix with others who were drafted in the 3rd and 4th rounds and his RAS scores were better than all of them. If he converts that into NFL level skills he may be a mid round "find".

[dplank]

Goddamn probability and math.

I also gotta say, his physique looks different - in a good way. He looks huge but trim and long, I can see why his RAS is so high. Would be great for our rebuild if he can beat the odds and be a good player. Rooting for it, also rooting for Jenkins to win RT and push some people around out there - we need guys with an edge to their play if we want to win up front. If we want to be a run dominant team, I want Jenkins out there.

[Kylo Bearen]

Goddamn probability and math.

I also gotta say, his physique looks different - in a good way. He looks huge but trim and long, I can see why his RAS is so high. Would be great for our rebuild if he can beat the odds and be a good player. Rooting for it, also rooting for Jenkins to win RT and push some people around out there - we need guys with an edge to their play if we want to win up front. If we want to be a run dominant team, I want Jenkins out there.

[HurricaneBear]

Goddamn probability and math.

I also gotta say, his physique looks different - in a good way. He looks huge but trim and long, I can see why his RAS is so high. Would be great for our rebuild if he can beat the odds and be a good player. Rooting for it, also rooting for Jenkins to win RT and push some people around out there - we need guys with an edge to their play if we want to win up front. If we want to be a run dominant team, I want Jenkins out there.

i know where your attempting to go with the attitude of the line and I agree with it. But if Jenkins isn't the goods I want him benched or cut. Guys need more than just an attitude and Jenkins, as all rookies, had some questions marks coming in. Since then he's been injured, and when he played he did not play very well and took a bunch of penalties if memory serves me correct. Now he's running with the twos - for either motivational reasons, coaches decision to rotate guys or maybe something else. I loved the pick at the time, and i hope the kid turns it around. The path his career has taken is veering more in the other direction however. He has plenty of time to turn it around.

If Jones and Borom beat him out in camp when it truly matters, which to me they are beating him out right now and that's why he is where he is in practice, then play Jones and Borom.

[dplank]

Yea same here, I don’t want to force him in I’m hoping he earns it

[Grizzled]

Physically he has all the tools. Mentally he seems like he's prepared to work as hard as it takes to win the job. And hopefully the coaching staff recognizes that 2 raw OTs, a new C, and a new RG may need adjustments to give Fields the time he needs. A FB should help as should the offense Getsy is installing which is designed to work with Fields' strengths (what a novel concept).

[spudbear]

The article has a video attached to it showing Jones highlights, in case you hadn't seen it or clicked on the article:



What stands out to me is how he looks like a man amongst the boys, similar to the Dieter highlights from a few years ago. He's not playing on a BCS team so the competition is going to be a little less hefty. In what little they showed, Braxton seems to have pretty good footwork as well as the use of his reach engaging whoever he's blocking to either "redirect" them or hold them close.

If Jenkins can prove his draft status and Jones is the goods, I would like to see them be the bookends for the Bears into the '30s. Difficult to keep good OL off the FA market without overpaying, but if they can help keep Fields clean then JF1 may give up a little salary to keep his dawgs in the pen.

[dplank]

Looks like a finesse player in that video...hope he's got some dog in him

[crueltyabc]

Given the two options, I'd rather see a guy get pushed back into the QB than turnstiled so I'm glad to have this guy.

[Bearfacts]

Goddamn probability and math.

I also gotta say, his physique looks different - in a good way. He looks huge but trim and long, I can see why his RAS is so high. Would be great for our rebuild if he can beat the odds and be a good player. Rooting for it, also rooting for Jenkins to win RT and push some people around out there - we need guys with an edge to their play if we want to win up front. If we want to be a run dominant team, I want Jenkins out there.

i know where your attempting to go with the attitude of the line and I agree with it. But if Jenkins isn't the goods I want him benched or cut. Guys need more than just an attitude and Jenkins, as all rookies, had some questions marks coming in. Since then he's been injured, and when he played he did not play very well and took a bunch of penalties if memory serves me correct. Now he's running with the twos - for either motivational reasons, coaches decision to rotate guys or maybe something else. I loved the pick at the time, and i hope the kid turns it around. The path his career has taken is veering more in the other direction however. He has plenty of time to turn it around.

If Jones and Borom beat him out in camp when it truly matters, which to me they are beating him out right now and that's why he is where he is in practice, then play Jones and Borom.

Yup. In yet another article in The Athletic Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns also discussed this with at least one conclusion being is that Jenkins is on the bubble as far as being one to the top five goes. Jahn's thinking was that as important as it is to find the top five as quickly as possible so they can coordinate throughout camp if they wanted to evaluate Jones at LT they could have done that with him playing with the second unit.

Jahn's believed this was a demotion and/or a wake up call for Jenkins that so far he's not been playing up to expectations. But again they're not in pads where Jenkins size and toughness may show up better. Since Jenkins has played very little football since the fall of 2020 he may simply be rusty but IMHO a better guess is that he came in overweight and out of shape based on where they've asked him to play. Nagy may have been OK with that. Flus won't be.

[dplank]

Yea wakeup call - heading into a 40 day break where they want him to work on his body/speed - makes a lot of sense to me. That's how I've viewed it since I first heard about it. Hope he takes heed and works his ass off, he has better potential as a player than anyone else on that line and it would be a blow to our rebuild if he isn't who we thought he was.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

I think Jenkins can do it.
For me it took a lot of determination and hard work to come back from that injury/surgery last year and still start a few games.

He can do it, he just has to prove how much he wants it.

[Mikefive]

Goddamn probability and math.

I also gotta say, his physique looks different - in a good way. He looks huge but trim and long, I can see why his RAS is so high. Would be great for our rebuild if he can beat the odds and be a good player. Rooting for it, also rooting for Jenkins to win RT and push some people around out there - we need guys with an edge to their play if we want to win up front. If we want to be a run dominant team, I want Jenkins out there.

i know where your attempting to go with the attitude of the line and I agree with it. But if Jenkins isn't the goods I want him benched or cut. Guys need more than just an attitude and Jenkins, as all rookies, had some questions marks coming in. Since then he's been injured, and when he played he did not play very well and took a bunch of penalties if memory serves me correct. Now he's running with the twos - for either motivational reasons, coaches decision to rotate guys or maybe something else. I loved the pick at the time, and i hope the kid turns it around. The path his career has taken is veering more in the other direction however. He has plenty of time to turn it around.

If Jones and Borom beat him out in camp when it truly matters, which to me they are beating him out right now and that's why he is where he is in practice, then play Jones and Borom.

Anyone who would say Jenkins should start if outplayed in TC by Jones and Borom would be knuckleheads. Obviously, playing in no pads means vastly less than playing with the pads on. I pretty well agree with the consensus here that Jenkins needs to get the message that the coaching staff (pretty safe assumption) wants him to be lighter on his feet and make changes needed to get there. And that playing in pads plays more to his strength. Even if TJ doesn't win the job in camp, it's certainly conceivable that one of the two OTs could get abused once the season starts, providing another opportunity for Jenkins to step in a prove he can do the job in this scheme. Of course, there's another related possibility. Jenkins doesn't win the job, one of our OTs suck and Jenkins is the same or worse, which would be a disastrous and somewhat realistic possibility on some level.

If Jenkins doesn't start at OT, you'd have to assume we'd see him tried out at RG in preseason given the hope that Jones and Borom can do their jobs. If he lacks the mobility to play OT in the wide zone, he may have enough athleticism to play RG. Play the best 5 right?

[Teddy KGB]

I think any talk of any offensive lineman being replaced is extremely premature, Jenkins included.

I also think there are certain people who have certain players they like and don't like and often project their own opinions into these types of discussions this early, media included.

The point is, it's incredibly dumb to ever take anything away from OTAs. Anyone with a sense of history of what's been reported from OTAs knows that the OTAs themselves have zero bearing on what actually happens in training camp and then the season.

Before anyone gets on their high horse and starts with the prognostications, at least wait for the players to get pads on first and a week of a training camp to go by.

[Bearfacts]

Can't disagree but I am wondering who the OT will be when camp opens. Will Flus go back to Borom/LT and Jenkins/RT or will they open with Jones and Borom at LT and RT respectively and Jenkins will still be playing with the 2nd unit. That, along with a depth chart, may give us the best indication of where all three stand.

[IE]

They're evaluating Jones, rewarding Borom and sending a message to Jenk. Now they have tape on Jones (and Borom) and then time to see if Jenk gets the message.

Well know right away in camp how it shakes out. But right now it looks to me like the Bears might have 3 viable (or near-viable) OTs and that is a high-class problem.

[Teddy KGB]

Can't disagree but I am wondering who the OT will be when camp opens. Will Flus go back to Borom/LT and Jenkins/RT or will they open with Jones and Borom at LT and RT respectively and Jenkins will still be playing with the 2nd unit. That, along with a depth chart, may give us the best indication of where all three stand.

I found it interesting because the initial reports were that the GM was not high on borom from his tape. Personally I liked him last season and thought he looked like a potential diamond in the rough left tackle and Jenkins looks more suited to play right tackle.

The thing with Jenkins is, we've seen him play in limited reps. It should be obvious to anyone that he has the physical traits to do the job. So that's why I find any talk of replacing him as something extremely silly, especially on a thin offensive line.

Also keep in mind, they drafted those three offensive lineman at the end of the round In order to play the draft Lotto - they weren't expecting contributions from those three linemen but we're hoping if even one of them pans out they would call in a win.

So now to have the expectation that suddenly two or three of them are going to challenge for starting roles when they have even put pads on defies all logical sense.

What makes more sense is we are in the dog days of summer and many in the sports media especially those who cover the Bears are grasping at straws on things to talk about, and nothing sells easier than panic.

Selling panic generates clicks. So they are selling offensive line panic when the reality is we really don't know what's going on with the offensive line.

If I had to guess, a message was intended to be sent to Jenkins, but it wasn't because of poor performance. They're likely was something either with attitude or he was running late for a meeting or some very football reason, much similar to the Jaylon Johnson situation.

Not to mention, they are probably just trying different combinations to see where everyone is at, and bears media is desperate to report something so they're blowing it out of proportion in order to generate panic, which as I said before, sells.

So honestly anything you read that sounds like panic I would dismiss. I really wouldn't get too high or too low off of OTA performance reports.

It can be handy on occasion but more often than not they are completely meaningless once training camp in the season roll around.

[Bearfacts]

As a bit more info has accumulated it seems that at the very least a message is being sent to Jenkins we just don't know why or what's caused it. I've suspected that it's a weight or conditioning thing but that's just a guess. There are other possibilities as well.

However, if it is a weight and/or conditioning based issue the timing of doing this just before they all leave for six weeks make sense as does Jenkins own words that he let himself go a bit over the Memorial Day break. Too much brew and BBQ I think he put it.

With his years of experience on the Bears beat Adam Jahn's typically has some pretty good insights into the team so I'm simply gonna follow his logic for now and say that the message to Jenkins is that he's not one of the top five based on his work so far. That's it.

[dave99]

As a bit more info has accumulated it seems that at the very least a message is being sent to Jenkins we just don't know why or what's caused it. I've suspected that it's a weight or conditioning thing but that's just a guess. There are other possibilities as well.

However, if it is a weight and/or conditioning based issue the timing of doing this just before they all leave for six weeks make sense as does Jenkins own words that he let himself go a bit over the Memorial Day break. Too much brew and BBQ I think he put it.

With his years of experience on the Bears beat Adam Jahn's typically has some pretty good insights into the team so I'm simply gonna follow his logic for now and say that the message to Jenkins is that he's not one of the top five based on his work so far. That's it.

There was a story that he was whipped by undrafted free agent DE (Carson Taylor) but I think that came after the demotion.
Either way, it probably didn't help his cause.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

From NBC Sports Chicago:

No answer on the offensive line

Eberflus was adamant the Bears planned to evenly split the first-team reps this offseason between their two alignments, one with Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins at tackle and one with Borom and Jones as the bookends.

Jones has had to learn quickly while playing with the ones. During the past seven weeks, the fifth-round pick has gotten better at throwing his hands. Still, Jones was whistled for several penalties during minicamp and appeared to be a step slow off the ball at times.

Eberflus said the staff would get together after camp and discuss what they liked and didn't like from the offensive line groups they tried out. The Bears coach said nothing was off the table, including trying Jenkins at right guard.

Full article: https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears ... -takeaways

[rtd]

Flues is saying he is evaluating both set ups of OTs. If you dont think he wants to do it in pads you are kidding yourself. IMO who starts the first week in camp is unimportant. Who starts week one is important. Who starts at the midway point of the season is the next step of importance, And by the end of the season is the most important. IMO this year things will be more fluid than normal.

[Bearfacts]

As a bit more info has accumulated it seems that at the very least a message is being sent to Jenkins we just don't know why or what's caused it. I've suspected that it's a weight or conditioning thing but that's just a guess. There are other possibilities as well.

However, if it is a weight and/or conditioning based issue the timing of doing this just before they all leave for six weeks make sense as does Jenkins own words that he let himself go a bit over the Memorial Day break. Too much brew and BBQ I think he put it.

With his years of experience on the Bears beat Adam Jahn's typically has some pretty good insights into the team so I'm simply gonna follow his logic for now and say that the message to Jenkins is that he's not one of the top five based on his work so far. That's it.

There was a story that he was whipped by undrafted free agent DE (Carson Taylor) but I think that came after the demotion.
Either way, it probably didn't help his cause.

I read that as well. Even though Taylor comes with a rep as a pass rushing terror when an UDFA whips up on your top 2021 draft pick that's not gonna go down well with the coaches especially if Jenkins is still 10-15lbs heavier than they want him.

One other thing in his scouting report that bothers me is that some felt he has football character issues. I'm not certain exactly what that means but lack of coachability could be one and lack of accountability could be another. That won't sit well with Flus.

[Rusty Trombagent]

There's nothing i put any stock into less than some anonymous shlub proclaiming X player has character issues

[RichH55]

There's nothing i put any stock into less than some anonymous shlub proclaiming X player has character issues

You are gonna hate my Aaron Hernandez write up