The Chicago Bears will begin OTAs (organized team activities) on Wednesday, marking the latest big step toward the 2026 season.Chicago will run their first three days of OTAs from May 27 through May 29, and then the next three sessions will take place from June 2 through June 4. After that, the Bears will have mandatory minicamp from June 9-11 before the break before training camp in late July.While training camp and the preseason are when position battles are really decided, players can lay the groundwork for earning their roles at OTAs.Knowing that, here's some of the most important position battles to keep an eye on as the Bears navigate OTAs this week and next.CenterChicago Bears offensive lineman Logan Jones. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn ImagesWhen the Bears traded for Garrett Bradbury following the stunning retirement of Drew Dalman, the veteran had a crystal clear path to a starting job in 2026.However, that path was muddied during the 2026 NFL Draft, when Logan Jones, who brings a wealth of starting center experience with him from college, was taken in the second round.Bradbury no doubt remains the favorite to win this job, but Jones is going to get an opportunity to steal it from him."Time will tell. The ball is in his court as far as I'm concerned," head coach Ben Johnson said of Jones competing for a starting job. "He understands that just like everyone else, we're looking to create competition and consistency day after day and build trust, not only with Caleb (Williams) and the other quarterbacks, but within that offensive line room and then obviously with the coaching staff.""We feel really good about Garrett being the starting center," general manager Ryan Poles said. "Obviously, we're going to always compete there, but if something were to happen, we feel really good that we're not going to have a huge letdown for (Jones) going in the game and operating at a high level.”CornerbackTexas defensive back Malik Muhammad. | Kirby Lee-Imagn ImagesThe departure of Nahshon Wright in free agency left the Bears with a huge question mark at the cornerback spot across from Jaylon Johnson.It was Wright who stepped in for a struggling Tyrique Stevenson last season. Now, Stevenson has a chance to get his job back, but there isn't much hope that he's going to bounce back to the player who once showed promise earlier in his career.Stevenson isn't locked into getting his job back, though. Fourth-round pick Malik Muhammad will be one form of competition for the veteran, and Muhammad's mentality says he expects to win that competition."For sure. For sure. That's the only mindset I have," Muhammad said when asked if he expects to compete for the starting job.Wide receiverLSU wideout Zavion Thomas. | Kirby Lee-Imagn ImagesThe Bears are locked-in atop the depth chart at wide receiver with Rome Odunze and Luther Burden, who will be Chicago's WR1 and WR2. But the situation behind them is murky.Kalif Raymond is the favorite to be the WR3, but he hasn't exactly been productive over the past two seasons. Jahdae Walker is probably the biggest threat to take that job from him, but the Texas A&M product is still a total wild card given his lack of experience.Also in the mix for the WR3 and other depth roles are third-round pick Zavion Thomas and veteran Scotty Miller. Thomas will likely need time to learn the offense, so it could be slow going for him early on, something general manager Ryan Poles pointed out, and Miller hasn't had a truly productive campaign since his 501-yard season in 2020.After a season in which Odunze struggled with injury, and with the jury still being out on both Odunze and Burden, Chicago needs a few of these players to step up and offer reliable depth options.Left tackleChicago Bears offensive tackle Braxton Jones. | David Banks-Imagn ImagesBraxton Jones, Jedrick Wills, Theo Benedet and Kiran Amegadjie will be vying for the starting left tackle job, which is open as 2025 draft pick Ozzy Trapilo recovers from a torn patellar tendon.Of course, Jones got himself benched last season due to poor play, but there is hope for him to bounce back in 2026 now that he's further removed from a broken fibula. We have had Jones pegged as the favorite for the Bears' job for awhile, and Bears coach Dan Roushar pretty much hinted that was the case.“I don’t think anybody goes in as the lead,” he said. “We certainly put value in the veteran, in Braxton. So we’ll let that thing play out.”Earlier this offseason, Johnson sounded optimistic about Jones and revealed the 2022 fifth-round pick was in excellent shape at 310 pounds.Benedet got eight starts last season and produced mixed results, with the former Bears UDFA posting a pass-blocking grade of 55.4 and a run-blocking grade of 65.7 while allowing two sacks and 26 pressures and committing seven penalties, according to Pro Football Focus.Wills is a former top-10 pick of the Cleveland Browns who has not come close to living up to expectations, with injuries and ineffective play derailing him. Wills missed all of the 2025 season because of a knee procedure that addressed an alignment issue. Now, the hope is that, with the issue resolved, Wills can get his career on track.“I injured a couple of ligaments, but usually when people like when they get fell on or something in their knee, they mess up all their ligaments and people can just go in and repair it and they get healthy," Wills said. "I had minimal damage to my ligaments. It was more of an alignment issue from where I got fell on. So they had to actually – it wasn't my knee, they had to go into my femur and do what was called an osteotomy to kind of correct my alignment," he added. "So my knee is healthy.”Amegadjie is the long shot of the group to win the job. The 2024 third-round pick appeared to be stuck in the dog house in 2025 after not playing a single snap for Chicago, either on offense or special teams. He has just six games and 125 snaps under his belt, all of which came during his rookie season.Edge rusherChicago Bears defensive end Austin Booker. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn ImagesEdge rusher has been one of the hottest topics of conversation this offseason. Bears fans expected big moves, but instead they got bupkis. That's a concern because the Bears finished tied for the seventh-fewest sacks last season and have a group of question marks opposite Montez Sweat.The Bears are depending on Dayo Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner, both of whom struggled in 2025 before suffering season-ending injuries, and Austin Booker, who showed some promise but still needs to cement himself.In case you were hoping there was still a move up the Bears' sleeve, don't hold your breath. Johnson made it very clear the team is banking on those three to take a step forward and better coaching in order to improve the pass-rush."We are excited about the guys that ended up finishing the season on IR, the trajectory that they were on, both Dayo and Shemar," Johnson said. "When you look at it from the start of the season to the point where they both got injured, we saw growth and we saw them trending in the right direction, in terms of what we want to see on game day.""I think Sweat had one of his better years in the NFL. Whether that shows up in the sack total or not, he's a very complete player, both in the run game and pass game," Johnson added. I think you saw tremendous growth from Booker when we were finally able to get him back (healthy), as well. The combination of us being able to coach better and those guys taking the next step as part of this system, I think we have some pretty good pieces to work with."What we don't have a clear picture of is how healthy Odeyingbo and Turner are at the moment and if they'll take part at OTAs. If they don't, Booker will be getting plenty of reps and that will provide a leg up for his quest to lock down a starting job.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow