Chicago Bears top position battles to watch: No. 1 center

Bears training camp is less than a month away and all eyes will be on Chicago this summer. The Bears have the No. 1 overall draft pick in Caleb Williams, and they will be the featured team on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

It’s a good time to be a Bears fan.

Also taking center stage during camp, which begins July 19, will be the position battles heading into the 2024 season. The Bears added significant talent to the roster over the offseason, and that’s only going to make it harder for some players to win starting jobs.

This week, Shaw Local is ranking the top five position battles to watch during training camp. Here’s a look at No. 1 on the list.

No. 1 center

Returning players: Doug Kramer

Departed players: Lucas Patrick, Cody Whitehair

Newcomers: Ryan Bates, Coleman Shelton

Why it’s worth watching: Last season, the Bears tried to move guard Cody Whitehair to center, which is the position where he began his career. Injuries changed that plan quickly. Guards Nate Davis and Teven Jenkins both missed time early in the season, which forced Whitehair to move to guard and Lucas Patrick to join the starting lineup at center. Patrick wound up starting 15 games at center in 2023. Midway through the year, the Bears attempted to switch Whitehair back to center, but his snaps were inconsistent and they reverted to Patrick.

The Bears cut Whitehair in February and let Patrick walk away in free agency after two seasons in Chicago.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles knew he needed to upgrade the center position in 2024. He took a twofold approach. He traded for Bills lineman Ryan Bates and signed former Rams starting center Coleman Shelton.

Bates and Shelton are both capable of playing multiple positions along the offensive line, and both played center for parts of the spring practice period. Center might be the only starting position that is truly a coin-flip position battle heading into training camp.

Bates has appeared in 73 regular season NFL games, including 19 starts. Most of his starts came at guard in 2022. Poles tried to sign Bates ahead of the 2022 season when he was a restricted free agent, but the Bills matched their offer. Poles never did forget about Bates though. This March, he sent a fifth-round draft pick to Buffalo in exchange for Bates.

Shelton has also appeared in 73 regular season games, with 32 career starts. He started at center all of last season for the Rams.

“We feel really good about where we’re at right now,” Bears offensive line coach Chris Morgan said. “We think we’ve got two guys that are really good football players, really good teammates, really good leaders, and we’re excited having both of them here.”

Morgan indicated that it’s an open competition heading into training camp. With a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams leading the offense, the Bears will probably want to make a decision sooner rather than later at center. The center needs to develop a good relationship with the quarterback, especially when that quarterback is a rookie.

Whoever doesn’t win the starting job at center will serve as the primary backup for all three interior offensive line positions. The versatility that these two bring to the table is highly valuable for the Bears’ offensive line.