The Chicago Bears received some good news on the injury front with the return of offensive lineman Lucas Patrick to practice on Monday.
Patrick hasn’t practiced since July 28 after injuring his right hand in the second practice of training camp. According to reports, Patrick suffered a broken right thumb that required surgery. So there are questions about whether he’ll be able to snap the ball.
But it sounds like the Bears have a solution should that arise.
Head coach Matt Eberflus said Patrick is an option at both center and guard, and the team is looking at combinations with him both at center and guard.
“We’re looking at both combinations right now,” Eberflus said. “We’ll have to see where he is and we’ll assess that as we go. It’ll be a Wednesday, Thursday assessment and then go from there.”
If Patrick is able to snap the ball, the offensive line combination would look like this: LT Braxton Jones, LG Cody Whitehair, C Lucas Patrick, RG Teven Jenkins, RT Larry Borom.
But if Patrick is unable to snap the ball, that would leave Jenkins, who has carved out a nice role for himself at right guard, as the odd man out. At least for the time being before Patrick can kick back inside to center. Sam Mustipher would then assume the job of center, where he started all 17 games last season.
We won’t know anything until the first injury report is released Wednesday, which is when Eberflus said he’d start discussing injuries.
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