Thankfully, the Chicago Bears enter the 2025 off-season with more questions about their coaching staff than about their roster. While this team is far from championship-ready, it is at least easier to identify where they need help. Anybody with common sense will tell you it starts in the trenches, especially on the offensive side. There is a realistic possibility they could have at least three new starters up front by the time the dust settles next May. It is a good thing they have three picks in the first two rounds. That offers a golden opportunity to land a potential instant-impact player.
There is one problem, though. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune contacted an NFL general manager to discuss the incoming draft class. One thing was made crystal clear: If the Bears go into April hoping to find a center, they would be making a huge mistake.
There isn’t a center in this year’s draft class as talented as Frazier, who came out of West Virginia. Georgia’s Jared Wilson, if he enters the draft, might be the best of the group, but it’s a thin group overall and it’s a challenging position to scout because NFL offenses put tougher requirements on the position than colleges.
“Starts with the communication stuff,” one general manager said. “In college, you’ve got all this nonsense where they put Mickey Mouse and other stuff on a poster board and hold it up on the sideline to call the plays. Finding the brain — a player that can handle everything presnap — is probably the hardest part because it is such an unknown. There isn’t a center in this year’s group that is even close to Frazier.”
They won’t find a center in this draft who is likely able to start immediately. That means the Bears may have to forego the position in favor of guard and tackle help. Ryan Poles, assuming he remains GM, will have to find his solution on the veteran market. Coleman Shelton is a free agent and Doug Kramer is not starter-worthy. Luckily, there should be some viable options in free agency. Ryan Kelly (Colts), Drew Dalman (Falcons), and Josh Meyers (Packers) are the ones who stand out the most.
Any of them would be able to provide stability in the middle, which is something the Chicago Bears haven’t had in a long time. In the past decade, they have gone through no less than five different centers. Their best one was Cody Whitehair and that wasn’t even the position they drafted him to play. This doesn’t seem like the year to finally get that next Olin Kreutz or Jay Hilgenberg. If the Bears do decide to draft a center, they will have to hope he can develop into something more than what he was in college.
