Pressure at Bears Camp on Doug Kramer
Another Bears lineman who grew up in the suburbs pulling for the team has a chance to make an impression, except now it's as a rookie with starters.
Bears coaches apparently have less regard for former center starter Sam Mustipher at this position than rookie Doug Kramer, and the former Illini standout has the No. 1 spot for the time being while Lucas Patrick tries to get past a thumb injury severe enough to keep him sidelined for an extended period.
"Honestly, I tried to come into it with not a ton of expectations and just try to come in and just work every single day," Kramer said. "That's honestly what I've focused on since I've been at Illinois and since I got here and it's been working pretty well so I'm trying to stick with that."
The Hinsdale native, a sixth-round pick this year, anchors the line now while Mustipher is at center with the second team. For a rookie, it's a lot of responsibility to be the one initiating each play in an NFL game.
"Super smart," coach Matt Eberflus said about Kramer. "Able to make all the calls. Sometimes you think, well mentally it might be too big for somebody to make the (opposing middle linebacker's) points and change protections with the quarterback and make the line calls and be the point guy on that. It's not. He's able to do that. Now, the physical side of it, he has to learn leverage and how to play and jump to the second level under control and be able to stick and stay on linebackers, you know, understanding all those things. That's to be expected. You're going to have that as a rookie. He's learning that and he's athletic enough to do that and we're excited where he is."
The real test comes Tuesday for Kramer. It's the first time the players will wear pads. Then they'll get a better idea how well prepared he can be because the real question about him is his size.
At 6-foot-2, 300 pounds, Kramer would be one of the smallest NFL centers. He'd be much the way Mustipher was before he added about 25 pounds.
"Honestly it doesn't impact me mentally at all," Kramer said. "I'm used to that. Everyone in college told me I was one of the smaller guys. Coming out of high school I was one of the smaller guys. That's just who I am, but I'll make up for that with a lot of different things I'll do on the field, first and foremost is the mental side of the game for sure. And then just how hard I can play and all that stuff.'
Kramer might be more concerned with the part of the game Eberflus had confidence he could handle—the line calls and knowing what's coming from defensive fronts.
"I think right now with it just being so early on, I'm trying to improve my whole game right now," he said. "First and foremost, mentally, I need to catch up, and obviously it’;s hard because you're trying to catch up to guys who have eight to 10 years experience in the NFL, but I'm trying to get to a level of understanding of the playbook where I can help the guys around me and understand the defense, help Justin behind me or whoever is behind us, so get to that level first, and then once you free the mind and you're able to understand things like that, then you can play ball."
The Bears aren't revealing the exact nature of Patrick's injury but if it is a broken thumb as is suspected by longer-term status attached to it by Eberflus, the Bears could be without the former Packers lineman throughout training camp and preseason. It might mean leaning on Kramer to start a game or so.
The enormity of the situation is pretty obvious but he's trying to keep it in perspective.
"It's what you do, but there's an added level of it's the NFL, it's the Chicago Bears, you've been preparing for it your whole life," Kramer said. "Now, it's here.
"Most days I'll have a moment where I'll kinda catch something new, like a little detail, and just it hits me where I'm like 'you're a Chicago Bear.' And that's awesome, you know what I mean? It's a dream come true. It's hard to even think that I'm at this point, but it's great to be here and just taking it step by step."
Like lineman Michael Schofield, who admitted he was a huge Bears fan as a kid, Kramer had Bears jerseys growing up. His choice was a little more conventional than Schofield, who had a Kyle Orton jersey.
"(Devin) Hester and (Brian) Urlacher," Kramer said of his fan-boy jerseys.
Now Kramer wears Bears jersey No. 68, and he's the center of attention at training camp.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
