We are counting down the days until the start of Chicago Bears training camp, and with that, we are counting down the roster to see who the most valuable players are on the team are.
This is looking at which players will impact the success of the Bears the most this season. We are onto number 42 overall.
Chicago Bears roster ranking: No. 42 Sam Mustipher
Sam Mustipher jumped up to number 18 last season when he was all but given the starting center job. He was on the lower end of starters, but he was clearly going to start, and his play in 2020 in relief for Cody Whitehair was passable.
The issue is that we learned that while Sam Mustipher could step in in a pinch for some relief snaps, he is not what you want in a starter for longer than a small portion of the season.
One reason it is easy to get down on the Chicago Bears in 2022 is that Sam Mustipher lost his job at center, but may have just been handed a job at right guard.
OTAs are not telling of everything, but early reports from OTAs were that Mustipher was splitting time with Dakota Dozier for first-team reps. Dozier left the OTA period with an injury, and the team replaced him, an indication that it will be season ending.
So, Mustipher is going to enter training camp as the starter at right guard. It is easy to say that the Bears would not want to rush Zach Thomas, a rookie who is expected to push Mustipher for right guard snaps.
Still, Braxton Jones is already getting first-team reps, so either Jones is further along than Thomas, or they truly view Mustipher as their best option for right guard at the moment.
Fans can write it off all that they want, but the Chicago Bears would not waste time giving Mustipher first teams reps if they did not want to get a long look at him there.
Fans are going to laugh and say the ranking is too high, but the reality is that if he is starting more than four games this season, this ranking will be too low.