5 big winners from Chicago Bears 2023 NFL draft

2. Chicago Bears have trust in Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick

One thought that was misguided during the 2023 NFL draft is the team drafting a center. They had plenty of chances and they passed each time. John Michael-Schmitz went right after Tyrique Stevenson and Noah Sewell was taken before Olu Oluwatimi. You could have argued that neither were positions of need, so the team clearly took the higher-graded player.

With that in mind, they did not see center as much of a need that they had to reach to make anything happen. That has to be good news for not only Cody Whitheair but also Lucas Patrick. We noted with Whitehair that his age and injury history are starting to catch up with him. It has taken him out of a game or two and declined his play a notch as well.

Lucas Patrick was supposed to be the answer at center, but he missed almost the entire year last year, and most of his snaps were at guard, and they were poor. Patrick really has one year of decent center play, and he was looked at as a short-term option with the chance to be more when the Chicago Bears signed him. After not getting a real chance last season the Bears are going back to that well.

Given that both of these guys have been banged up recently and neither feels like a 5-year solution, it is easy to see why fans wanted the team to go center. The fact that they did not is a huge win for both Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick.