Sorting Out a Bears Center Winner
Of all the battles for starting positions the Bears have, they should at least feel comfortable about center.
They have veteran players Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick at the spot, and also a third player who was injured last year but had shown great promise at Illinois the previous year in Doug Kramer.
That's the glass half-full approach.
The half-empty approach is Whitehair hasn't played there since the middle of 2020, Patrick has never been more than a fill-in type of player at any line position and Kramer is essentially a Day 3 rookie this year.
The mix could allow for an interesting starting battle, but the Bears started OTAs with Whitehair as the No. 1 center like they said they would.
There is good logic for this even though they touted Patrick as the starting center the day he arrived in Chicago as a free agent.
Here is a look at why Whitehair should win the starting Bears center battle, and why.
Whitehair's Experience
It's not just Whitehair being an experienced player. After all, he's 31 and a player his age often is on the verge of getting shown the door in the NFL.
The experience edge with Whitehair goes beyond being 31 and being their fourth-most expensive player.
He gets the job done. Whitehair hasn't been the best player in the league but has been an above-average blocker throughout his career at both center and guard. In fact, at center he had his best seasons and the Bears are moving him back there.
Maybe he shouldn't have been moved in the first place, Matt Nagy?
Whitehair had his best year as a pro in 2016 as a rookie, according to PFF blocking grades. He had PFF grades of 87.5 overall, 86.7 as a pass blocker and 86.3 as a run blocker. Those are the high type of grades that can put a player in the running for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, except they rarely give the award to offensive linemen. He was good for three years as a center but started to suffer lower grades when they started making him split time between blocker and center.
As a pass blocker, Whitehair allowed four sacks, nine quarterback hits and 38 hurries in his first three years when they had him playing almost always as a center. From 2019-2022 he was either as center/guard half-and-half or a guard full time and he allowed 14 sacks, 10 quarterback hits and 64 hurries.
So now he's back to playing where he had been most effective and is their most experienced lineman.
Lucas Patrick's Backup Status
The former Packers player arrived being hailed as a starter because he knew Luke Getsy's offensive system, a guy they imported to educate the losers in Chicago how it's supposed to be done. He played 10 downs at center last year, 154 at left guard, 105 at right guard before his season-ending toe injury.
A thumb injury had wiped out his first training camp in Chicago.
The truth is, Patrick has never been anything more than a backup, or an injury fill-in. With Green Bay, he started because of injuries. Josh Myers suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2021 and Patrick played enough then to establish he was a player the Bears should pursue. However, he has played more snaps at right guard (1,170) than at center (968) and also has 613 snaps at left guard.
"Well the experience that you have somebody inside that can move from guard to center, center to guard on both sides, you know, to have a guy like that that has that, it's easy for him to do that," coach Matt Eberflus said. "As we know during the course of the season there’s going to be guys in different combinations cause there is going to be injury and we have to deal with that. To have a guy that has that experience it's certainly valuable."
Translation: He's a backup center and guard.
When Patrick did play at Green Bay or Chicago, he has never been a highly rated player to the level of Whitehair. Last year he had a 55.9 overall PFF blocking grade and a horrendous 30.8 pass-blocking grade. His second-best year was in 2021 when he had 822 of his 911 snaps at center, but he hasn't really been at full-time status any other season.
Patrick looks like exactly what Eberflus described. He's a solid backup at guard or center, although last year's pass blocking would focus scrutiny on this area of his game.
Kramer's Total Inexperience
The former Illini center did show promise as a center in training camp practices until his season-ending foot injury. The Bears are not about to risk a season on a center who hasn't made an NFL snap, especially when he was a Day 3 pick. They probably would have been better off retaining new Ravens backup center Sam Mustipher as their starter because of his experience. After all, he was coming off his best season in terms of PFF grades and they were higher than Patrick's best PFF grades at center.
Center is a position where it often takes two or three years before players get their chances and Kramer will need this considering what he missed last year by watching.
Cap/Value Situation
It's true the Bears would realize $9.9 million in cap savings by cutting or trading Whitehair after June 1 according to Overthecap.com, but they would also eat $8.3 million in dead cap if he's cut or traded. That could be taken against the cap over two years, though. Still, they don't need $5.7 million more in realized cap savings for this year so badly that they should be cutting a player of his ability. They have more cap space than anyone in the league.
Considering the value brought as a needed backup, Patrick is also a player the Bears should have on their roster for insurance. A few million in realized cap savings isn't worth cutting him when they can get valued depth at multiple positions.
Consider also, they have a starting left guard who hasn't played the position and they are looking at rookie Ja'Tyre Carter in OTAs and he has played only 31 plays in the NFL. So keeping Patrick to fortify the line is necessary even if he doesn't rate on a level with Whitehair.
Kramer Factor
If they decided Kramer had advanced enough to hold down a backup spot, it should offer no incentive to cut either of the other two centers because both are players who can play backup guard or start at guard and Kramer is limited to providing help at center until or if he proves he is also a guard.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
