Tom Thayer's Choice as Bears Center
There are not and can't be better experts on what the Bears do along the offensive line than Tom Thayer.
The 1985 offensive line starter at right guard always has had his hand on the pulse of the line as the analyst alongside radio play-by-play man Jeff Joniak for WBBM's broadcasts, and spends a good deal of time every year at training camp if not offseason practices.
So when Thayer says the offensive line the Bears showed at OTAs and minicamps might not be the line they start off with at training camp or take into the regular season, it carries a great deal more impact than some guy sitting in his basement regurgitating in cyberspace what he read on Pro Football Talk.
Thayer thinks the Bears will not line up former Green Bay lineman Lucas Patrick at center, as they did all offseason. Instead, he sees them doing what former Bears center Olin Kreutz has insisted via social media will happen. Hosting Wednesday morning on WSCR-AM 670 with sideline and beat reporter Mark Grote, Thayer said he sees the Bears putting Sam Mustipher back at center and starting Patrick at right guard at training camp.
His reasoning is simple: Mustipher has extensive experience at center, Patrick has experience at right guard with Green Bay although he played center too.
"You would have experience at center if you had Mustipher in there, if you had Lucas at right guard and Cody (Whitehair) at left guard," Thayer told Grote. "Now you're talking about three players that have already proven they can play at a very high level up here."
Whether Mustipher proved he played at a high level is open to debate. He had relatively low Pro Football Focus blocking grades, but not a great deal lower than the grade Patrick had last year with Green Bay while playing center with a 57.5 grade and Mustipher 36th with a 51.8.
Thayer based his thoughts on a few things, including his own experience. He pointed out how he came from the USFL to the Bears in 1985 and line coach Dick Stanfel had been using him at the alien position of backup center because they had no dependable backup to Jay Hilgenberg. But he asked to get a chance to play at right guard where he was more comfortable, then went out, excelled and stayed there.
"And so I went against the Buffalo Bills the last preseason game and I played right guard and I showed more confidence, more strength and more confidence in myself playing guard than I did playing center. I was no good (at center)," Thayer said.
The result was the Bears kept Thayer at guard and he was a key part of their success in winning the Super Bowl.
-Former Bears guard Tom Thayer on WSCR AM-670
"To me, I'm glad that Lucas can play multiple positions on the offensive line but I believe Sam Mustipher is a center," Thayer said. "I think that's the position that he's born and bred to play.
"So do you want to get the best out of this offensive line, because the first thing Ryan Pace did was require these guys to lose weight and I think Sam Mustipher losing weight, being in better shape, being faster off the ball, he's already proven that maybe he can hold down that position."
The other thing Thayer did was tie guard/center into the line's problems at tackles. Basically, he thinks with two second-year tackles in Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom, and another inexperienced option with rookie Braxton Jones, the Bears need to have the inside three positions stable and as solid as possible to support possible problems on the outside. Having three players experienced at their position from guard to guard is far more stable than starting Mustipher at right guard, where he has never played in the NFL or college.
The Bears had Jones practicing with starters at left tackle the last two weeks of offseason work but Thayer believes it needs to be Borom at left tackle. It sounded as if he thinks the Bears are actually leaning to Jones at left tackle and it wasn't merely an experiment at OTAs and minicamp.
"To me, I always thought it was Borom left tackle and then Teven Jenkins at right tackle," Thayer said. "If Teven Jenkins can't play right tackle, then move him to right guard and he's going to have to prove to me that he can or cannot play at this level.
"But I still believe that Larry Borom right now is their best option at left tackle but they seem to think differently."
It's hard to fault Thayer's thinking about Jones. He thinks it would be fantastic if Jones had established he could really start and be effective at left tackle as a rookie, but it seems unlikely he'd be able to handle the very first assignment. It might be a move they should explore later, after Jones' feet are wet in the NFL.
"There's a hell of a responsibility to put on the shoulders of a fifth-round draft choice, to come in and play left tackle in the NFL as a rookie in Week 1 against Nick Bosa," Thayer said.
The opener is a home game and that would help a young tackle, but Thayer called the Bosa-Jones matchup "...a terrible thought."
"I'm disappointed that they haven't exhausted every effort to make Larry Borom the left tackle because he's got the size, he's got the feet, he's got the punch and he showed that last year in the Seattle game," Thayer told Grote. "They were going to start Teven Jenkins at left tackle. After the third play, Teven Jenkins left the game, Larry Borom was inserted at left tackle and played the rest of the game and played well. And so, to me, I would like to continue the process of the development of Larry Borom."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
