Bear Digest

Centers Will Have Bears' Attention

The Bears need a center badly and possibly even two, so they'll be scouting out the prospects this week at the Senior Bowl.
Gene Chamberlain|
Centers Will Have Bears' Attention
Centers Will Have Bears' Attention

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Chicago Bears

It's safe to say the Bears personnel people and assistants will be hanging around by the centers at this week's Senior Bowl practices.

In 2022, former Bears center Sam Mustipher received as much criticism as any offensive lineman on the team after a season when he allowed two sacks and committed four penalties.

According to Pro Football Focus, Mustipher graded out squarely in the middle of the pack among starting centers who had at least 550 snaps or more on the year, a number representing about half of a season's worth of snaps.

The Bears really didn't want Mustipher back so they didn't even tender him an offer as a restricted free agent.

Their decision was to use Cody Whitehair at center instead, and then, because of line injuries, they wound up starting Whitehair immediately at guard and Lucas Patrick at center. There were 28 centers who graded higher than Patrick this season and made at least half of their team's snaps.

Patrick is a free agent. Whitehair is one of their highest-paid players and was benched last year. It's been since 2019 that they had a PFF blocking grade from a center making more than 550 snaps who was higher graded than Mustipher in his final Bears season.

It's not an easy position for a rookie to play if they want to go the draft route to replace Patrick and Whitehair.

For instance, John Michael Schmitz of the Giants drew universal acclaim in last year's draft as one of the top two or three centers and he graded 36th among centers in the league this year. Joe Tippmann was the highest-graded starting rookie center and was 22nd overall. Tippmann, Tyler Linderbaum and Creed Humphrey are the only centers younger than 25 graded in the top 20 by PFF.

So it's possible the Bears would need a veteran center to handle the duties until they're comfortable starting a player in his first season.

There's a lot to see at the Senior Bowl among centers because many of the players at this position highly rated by draft analysts are taking part.

Here's what they'll find.

American Team

Zach Frazier, West Virginia

The 6-foot-2, 310-pound mobile center has one quality that many scouts immediately like. In high school he was a heavyweight wrestler who won four consecutive state championships. He played guard at West Virginia for nine games in 2020 and after that became the starting center. Luke Easterling of FanNation's Athlon Sports has Frazier ranked the sixth best interior offensive line prospect in the draft.

Draft scout Kyle Crabbs of FanNation's Athlon Sports says Frazier has a real "grinder demeanor," but regards him more as a fit for gap blocking schemes than for the wide zone because of gither hips. He doesn't get up and out to the wide zone as fast.

Charles Turner, LSU

Turner, who is 6-4, 300, is projected by Walterfootball.com to be a Day 3 selection, Round 4-6, and became the starting center for LSU in 2022. His long reach makes him ideal for pass blocking. He has the longest reach (33 3/4 inches) of any of the centers in the Senior Bowl. Turner's athleticism might make him a wide zone blocker but he told The Draft Network he needs "to get better at the point of attack..."

Beaux Limmer, Arkansas

Regarded by Walterfootball.com as a Day 3 selection, the 6-4 1/2, 301-pound guard/center stayed around for another year of college in 2023 when he could have left after 2022 and worked to get better at pass blocking. Apparently he did it. He played right guard until during his last season, when he switched to center. Limmer was one of only three power five conference guards to record 80-plus blocking grades according to Pro Football Focus.

Andrew Raym, Oklahoma

The 6-3 1/2, 315-pound citizen of Cherokee Nation started 29 games at center in four seasons. He missed three games as a result of a shoulder injury that required surgery. Some scouting reports call him a "high-motor" type of player who lacks wide zone mobility but would be an ideal fit in gap scheme or even blocking inside zone. Some scouts also wanted to see improvement in his shotgun snaps. Regarded as 10th among centers by Mel Kiper.

National Team

Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon

Regarded as the third-best center in the draft by Mel Kiper Jr., Powers-Johnson was only the fifth unanimous first-team All-American from his school.

Kayvon Thibodeaux was the last one in 2021. He allowed only one pressure this past season on Bo Nix. Very powerful at 6-3 1/4, 334, he played right guard first before replacing current Denver Bronco center Alex Forsyth. Scouts for The Draft Network raved about his ability to move out and block in zone scheme despite his size. He's graded by them as a Day 2 pick. PFF gave him a grade in the top 14.8% of run blockers and top 9.4% as a pass blocker among interior offfensive linemen.

Tanor Bortolini, Wisconsin

Mel Kiper says he's the seventh-best center prospect and is graded as a Day 3 pick by most scouting websites. The 6-3 3/4, 305-pounder is liked by scouts because of his technical blocking skills and good mobility, as he actually saw plays at tight end and also played guard as a redshirt sophomore. He became a full-time center as a senior and had a PFF pass-blocking grade of 80.3, but his mobility is offset by average arm length. He does have some zone blocking experience from school.

Kingsley Eguakun, Florida

Very experienced at the position, unlike many of the guard converts. He had 30 starts at center since 2021. He first accepted an invite to the East-West Shrine Bowl but then was invited to the Senior Bowl. He can use the exposure in the all-star bowls because he played only four games this past season due to a right ankle injury. At 6-3, 300 he was not among Mel Kiper's top 10.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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