Chicago Bears position battles to look for: Center

After all the changes to the Chicago Bears roster this offseason, there will be a number of position battles. We will evaluate those battles. First up, is the center position.

Well, Phase I of the offseason is done. Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles did a good job of improving the roster. While he still has much to be done, the team is in a much better position today than it was in January when the 2022 season ended.

Chicago Bears have some intriguing offseason roster battles

Poles added a lot of talent to a roster that desperately needed it. He added much more talent in key positions and now has much more depth than the team has had in a long time.

As a result, there will be some key position battles between now and the start of the season. The team entered Phase II of the offseason when they began their Organized Team Activities (OTAs) yesterday. This is the start of those key position battles.

Having a more competitive roster internally makes the team better overall. When we see players battle to be starters we see how good they are. They will give it their best whenever they are on so the coaches notice them. The coaches will find out if certain players’ best is good enough to win them a starting job.

Seeing the players put their best foot forward helps out someone who is comfortable in his job — quarterback Justin Fields. With better talent around him playing inspired football, we will get to see how good Fields really is. He had a great Year 2 in 2022 but still needs to develop his passing game. He now has better protection and targets so hopefully, his passing ability takes a step up in 2023.

There won’t be a shortage of battles to look at throughout OTAs, training camp, and preseason games. We will take a look at each battle in a series. First up is center.