Before Week 12, Chicago Bears rookie offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo had played 72 offensive snaps this season and exactly one of them (according to Pro Football Focus) came at left tackle. But he stepped and made his first NFL start protecting Caleb Williams' blindside against the Pittsburgh Steelers that Sunday, and he acquitted himself very well (one pressure and no sacks allowed).
Trapilo's second start, against the Philadelphia Eagles on Black Friday, was not as good against another tough defensive line. He allowed four pressures and three hurries, and PFF gave him a dismal 44.7 pass blocking grade.
In Week 14 against the Green Bay Packers, Trapilo rebounded with 91.1 pass blocking grade and another "clean sheet" in terms of pressures allowed on 40 pass blocking snaps. PFF grades don't ever tell the whole story, but good is better than bad and particularly positive assessments often show up on tape.
Ozzie Trapilo is showing he can be the guy for the Bears at left tackle
On CHSN's "The Big Pro Football Show", co-hosts Ruthie Polinsky, David Haugh and Clay Harbor highlighted Trapilo's performance as a silver lining of the Bears' loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 14.
Polinsky posed the obvious question about Trapilo's potential to be the Bears' left tackle of the future.
Haugh deferred to Harbor, a former NFL tight end who "played next to offensive tackles", while wondering if the "numbers reflect what happened on the field" against Green Bay. The Haugh offered his big picture view of Trapilo.
"If they did (the numbers mesh with the eye test), Ozzy Trapilo is your left tackle of the future", Haugh said. "Because you drafted him in the second round, and if he's coming around at the right time, very encouraging sign for the Bears."
Harbor reviews the "All-22" game film after every Bears' game. and he followed Haugh's thoughts with his own assessment,
Harbor noted how Ben Johnson designed a game plan that put Williams on the move a lot, in order to neutralize Packers' star edge rusher Micah Parsons. That minimized what Trapilo had to do in terms going 1-on-1 against Parsons, or Green Bay's other top-notch edge rusher Rashan Gary, and Harbor noted how he had help.
"For what he was asked to do, I thought he did a good job", Harbor said. "But they did not trust him to do a lot of the things you would trust a high-paid veteran tackle (to do)."
Harbor's bottom line there lands as a harsh assessment of a guy who has made three starts. But upon circling back, when Haugh asked if he could become that trusted left tackle, Harbor is optimistic.
"Oh yeah, I think he can", Harbor said. "He's got the right mindset, he's a guy that's gonna play to the whistle, he's intelligent."
Similar to last week, Trapilo will not be asked to go 1-on-1against another top edge rusher this week, very often (if at all).
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett primarily lines up on the right side of the defense. With that in mind, there will surely be a bullseye on Trapilo in Jim Schwartz's defensive game plan as Garrett nears the NFL single-season sack record.
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Through three starts, with high marks for his work in two of them, Trapilo is doing what he needs to do to show he can be the guy at left tackle for the Bears. If it continues over the rest of the season, he could cross what once looked like a prominent need off general manager Ryab Poles' offseason checklist.