Reason Ozzy Trapilo Was Removed From Left Tackle Competition Revealed

Something shifted after the Chicago Bears' preseason opener against Miami. Up until that point, their left tackle competition had been straightforward. It started with three guys getting equal reps with the starting offense. Then, after Kiran Amegadjie suffered a leg injury, it became a two-man race between incumbent Braxton Jones and 2nd round pick Ozzy Trapilo. There were rumblings that the rookie was even ahead in the race. Fast forward 48 hours, and everything had changed. Trapilo was playing far more snaps at right tackle while former undrafted free agent Theo Benedet was battling Jones on the left.

People couldn't understand what happened. Trapilo hadn't seemed to make any glaring mistakes. He wasn't perfect, but he at least looked competent. Shifting him to right tackle, where there was no hope of starting with Darnell Wright in place, meant he'd essentially been removed from the competition. Why? Head coach Ben Johnson didn't avoid the topic when asked. He and offensive line coach Dan Roushar concluded that Trapilo lacked something important.

“It’s really play speed. There are times where the feet have gotten a little bit slow at times, both in the run game and in pass pro. The mental (process) of just speeding up, ball, snap, let’s go ahead and get in a good physical position here to block the man in front of me, it’s been a little bit of up and down.”

Ozzy Trapilo hasn't gotten comfortable.

Roushar quickly pointed out that once the rookie returned to playing right tackle, which was his college position, his foot speed picked up significantly. That tells you a lot of the problems were his lack of comfort playing on the left side. He barely played it in his career. Switching positions and learning to retreat with opposite feet and hands is anything but easy. Ozzy Trapilo is a smart kid and works hard. The fact is he didn't find enough of a comfort level to play left tackle at the coach's standard. Rather than let things continue on course, they decided to give him a break and let him develop more steadily. Jones, Benedet, and Amegadjie have much more experience at left tackle. They could sort it out for the time being. If it doesn't, Trapilo may get another opportunity later this season.