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‘F–k it’: Why Bears aren’t stressed about center competition originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Bears put their pads on for the first time on Friday, and in the process began the starting center competition in earnest. Both Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton will get the opportunity to win the job over the coming weeks and each man understands the stakes. But neither man is looking at the other with contempt. In fact, they’re each pushing the other to get better.
“Coleman’s a great guy, great teammate,” said Bates. “During OTAs we really got to form a bond. I help him. He helps me. Iron sharpens iron, so it’s going great right now.”
“We’re teammates, so every day we are in here learning together and we’re working together and we’re just striving to be the best we can be,” said Shelton.
The Bears say they’re in no rush to sort out who’s going to be the starter. They’re going to let the competition play out organically, without a timeline. That begs the question: shouldn’t the Bears get one center in place ASAP to develop chemistry? Bates disagrees.
“I wouldn’t think too much into it to be honest, because me and Coleman have both played some ball. We know what we can do, what we can’t do, especially with a young guy back there at quarterback.
“We try to take some of the pressure off of him, just handling stuff up front by ourselves and honestly just trying to make him feel as comfortable as possible, because I know he has a hell of a lot of stuff on his plate.”
Nose tackle Andrew Billings lines up against each man in practice, so he has a unique perspective on the competition. He says it’s between “one quick guy and one really strong guy,” but believes the winner will be the player who performs most consistently.
Bates, however, thinks he and Shelton are more similar than different.
“We’re both lighter guys. We’re not 320-330 pounds. We both can move really well. We played similar. We come from the same coach…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/f-k-why-bears-arent-205506486.html
Author : NBC Sports Chicago
Publish date : 2024-07-26 20:55:06
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