Braxton Jones shares message to himself when thinking about his contract year

The Chicago Bears have a heated training camp battle going on at left tackle between Braxton Jones, Ozzy Trapilo, and Kiran Amegadjie. It's probably not one Jones wants to have as he is in the final year of his contract with the Bears, but he's been dealing with it.

When speaking to the media about the contract concern, Jones' focus shifts straight to ensuring he's healthy before thinking about it.

"The biggest thing has been to get 100% healthy and being able to show what I can do and what I have always been able to do. That's my biggest thing, just staying the course with injury. If I don't go out there and look right with the injury, then that's that. I feel like going out there, doing everything I can to make sure this injury is healed correctly and looking good, feeling good. It has been. I just got to put my hat on that and continue working. Trust me, that is definitely in the back of my head as well. Like I said, patience. There's a timing for everything, and I can't be jumping the gun on that. I gotta stay where I'm at. Like I said, I think about it for sure, but I'm trying to stay as positive as I can and do what I can right now."

Jones is battling a war he should be able to win

Throughout Bears' training camp, Jones, Trapilo, and Amegadjie have all battled to secure the left tackle job. They all have split time with the first team as head coach Ben Johnson tries to figure out which one fits the role best.

If it hadn't been for Jones' ankle injury late in the season, he might be in a better position to win the job. Pro Football Focus gave Jones an overall grade of 77.4, which ranked 21st of 140 tackles in the NFL last year.

This season is all about making sure Jones can stay healthy after missing 11 games in the last two seasons. Trapilo was drafted in the second round of this year's draft, most likely to be the eventual replacement at left tackle.

Read more: Bears suffer significant injury at training camp at pivotal position

It may be a position battle that doesn't get settled until the end of training camp. Jones has some work to do to build trust with Johnson and the coaching staff. His previous success shows he can be a starter, but he needs to stay on the field consistently.