soulman Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 Matt Nagy confirms James Daniels will play center in 2019 by Alyssa Barbieri https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2019/05/22/matt-nagy-confirms-james-daniels-will-play-center-in-2019/ Back in March, Matt Nagy introduced the idea that the Bears might have Cody Whitehair and James Daniels switch positions. That would mean Daniels moving to center and Whitehair moving to left guard, the idea being that both would return to their natural positions. Nagy mentioned it. Ryan Pace mentioned it. Even Mitch Trubisky mentioned it. It felt like a foregone conclusion. Following Wednesday's OTA practice, Nagy confirmed the switch. James Daniels is going to play center, #Bears coach Matt Nagy said. That puts Cody Whitehair at left guard — Patrick Finley (@patrickfinley) May 22, 2019 Whitehair, who played center in 2018, played left tackle in college at Kansas State. Since being drafted by Chicago, Whitehair has played center and both left and right guard due to injuries to the offensive line over the past few years. Daniels, who played left guard during his rookie season, played center at Iowa. As for the guy that will be impacted the most by the switch, quarterback Trubisky believes it'll be a "seamless transition." “Cody’s played guard before, James played center in college," Trubisky told me earlier this month. "We just have such great chemistry all around, especially with me and my offensive line. We’re just gonna work in this offseason, and we’ll be ready to go. But I have a lot of confidence in that group up front. I think it’ll be a smooth, very easy transition.” When the Bears drafted Daniels last year, many believed that he'd be immediately plugged in as center. But when Whitehair remained at center and Daniels was later inserted as a left guard, there was a belief that maybe they weren't trying to overload Daniels as a rookie with all that's required of a center as far as the amount of pre-snap reads and checks/calls at the line of scrimmage. While Whitehair and Daniels are switching positions, the offensive line remains intact, returning all five starters from a season ago. That continuity will be huge for an offense that's expected to make leaps in its second season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmike90 Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 The snap issues for Whitehair were always in the back of most peoples minds and come playoff time that can't come back to bite you...I think he will be far better at OG than at centre with his ability to use his hands earlier when blocking...Daniels excelled at centre in college and showed he still have the ability to pull from that spot which will be important for the running game this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 Daniels was always going to be center. They didn’t want him making line calls in his rookie year. To me that’s kind of stupid, there are many work arounds for that, but whatever they had a plan and went with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigsooie5 Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 This was a matter of when not if. Both go back to their natural positions. Like this move a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindyCity Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 Daniels could be a special player at C, his movement skills on the pull and his ability to anchor against power are really impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superman(DH23) Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 I'll just echo the other comments, Daniels has the potential to be a perennial all pro at center. Cody is going to be a fine LG and probably make some probowls. The question is do they want JD to drop some weight and go back to 305 after playing at about 315 last year. To me he seemed like his movement was still exceptional even with the added lbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinz D. Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 Agree with everybody. Move is obvious, and intelligent. And there was great rejoicing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZBearsFan Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 18 hours ago, Madmike90 said: The snap issues for Whitehair were always in the back of most peoples minds and come playoff time that can't come back to bite you...I think he will be far better at OG than at centre with his ability to use his hands earlier when blocking...Daniels excelled at centre in college and showed he still have the ability to pull from that spot which will be important for the running game this year. Daniels’ best position has always been center so this was a given to happen eventually IMO, but I don’t think that Whitehair’s snapping played any role in it. The shotgun snap issues Whitehair had in 2017 were basically nonexistent last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindyCity Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 7 hours ago, AZBearsFan said: Daniels’ best position has always been center so this was a given to happen eventually IMO, but I don’t think that Whitehair’s snapping played any role in it. The shotgun snap issues Whitehair had in 2017 were basically nonexistent last year. The Eagles and Chiefs have always prioritized the C position. They have drafted or paid at the position pretty consistently in the Andy Reid regimes. Some teams like to set their protections off the C spot and if he can handle rushers 1 on 1, which is not super common, then it opens everything else up for the offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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