Why Hroniss Grasu Is Chicago Bears' Best Bet at Center

Earlier this offseason, the Chicago Bears opted to release veteran center Roberto Garza and signed veteran Will Montgomery to man the middle of the offensive line. Montgomery appeared to be the front-runner for the center position until the team drafted Oregon's Hroniss Grasu in the third round of this year's draft.

“His makeup is off the charts,” general manager Ryan Pace said about Grasu, according to ChicagoBears.com's Larry Mayer. “There are certain guys on our board that we’ll check a ‘Bears box’; a little ‘Bear’ that’ll pop up. To us, that’s a guy who has every trait we’re looking for. Grasu is one of those guys.”

Grasu was a four-year starter at Oregon, but Montgomery has played for Bears head coach John Fox in the past and also has experience playing in offensive coordinator Adam Gase's scheme.

Montgomery was drafted in 2006 by the Carolina Panthers and has started a total of 71 games for the Panthers, New York Jets, Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos in his nine-year career. 

According to Pro Football Focus, Montgomery played 586 snaps last season for the Broncos and finished as the league's 10th-best center with a plus-3.6 overall grade. He allowed just one sack and three quarterback hurries.

Because of his experience in Gase's scheme, he has been like another coach on the field for the offensive line during minicamps and organized team activities (OTAs).

“The better I know the scheme, the better I can relay it to everybody else and get it going,” Montgomery said, according to ChicagoFootball.com's Arthur Arkush.

Montgomery is an experienced veteran who has played in a variety of different offensive schemes, but even though he is currently viewed as the starter at center, Grasu has a chance to earn the starting job with a strong showing in training camp and the preseason.

The veteran center is considered to be a good anchor in the middle of the offensive line in pass protection, but he lacks the athleticism and speed to move laterally or to get to the second level in the running game. While Montgomery was serviceable last year in the running game, Grasu's athleticism is one of the reasons why Pace selected the young center in the third round.

"He’s a highly intelligent player," Pace said, according to Mayer. "His athleticism really jumps out—just his quickness and his balance—the things you look for in a center. Lateral quickness is important for a center. The ability to reach a nose tackle. He’s got all those traits."

Grasu did not participate in the NFL Scouting Combine in February, but according to Gil Brandt of NFL.com, he recorded a 5.01-second 40-yard dash time at his pro day. If he had run at the combine and been able to match his 40-yard dash time from his pro day, he would have tied with teammate Jake Fisher for the second-fastest time among all offensive linemen at the combine. 

The former Duck moves fluidly from side to side, but he is at his best when asked to get to the second level. In the national championship game earlier this year, he showed off his speed against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

On a 1st-and-10 play in the first quarter, Oregon lined up on offense out of the shotgun on the 43-yard line:

Credit: Draft Breakdown

Grasu snapped the football back to quarterback Marcus Mariota and quickly worked his way up the field to block the middle linebacker:

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Because of Grasu's ability to get to the second level, the Ducks were able to pick up six yards on the play. 

Grasu thrived in Oregon's zone-blocking scheme because it allowed him to utilize his athleticism in space, and even though Gase does not run strictly a zone-blocking scheme, Grasu fits well into the various different schemes the young coordinator likes to run.

After signing with the team this offseason, Montgomery explained some of Gase's offensive concepts, according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune:

"

We had the outside zone, obviously, with Gase, but I’m not going to say that’s all we run. We run a lot of stuff. We run outside, we run inside, we run power and ‘iso’, screens. Everything is kind of a well-rounded mix and also game-plan specific, so it’s not like there’s any one thing somebody can key on because we’re always switching it up.

"

If Gase opts to use more screen passes in his offense this season with running back Matt Forte, Grasu will be an upgrade over Montgomery.

In the Rose Bowl against the Florida State Seminoles earlier this year, Grasu showed off his ability to get to the second level in the screen game. Late in the second quarter, the Ducks lined up with running backs to each side of Mariota out of the shotgun with two receivers lined up to the left of the formation and one lined up to the right:

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After snapping the football to Mariota, Grasu momentarily held his ground before working his way up the field after Mariota connected with his running back on a screen pass: 

Credit: Draft Breakdown

Grasu was able to seal off the Florida State defender and helped open up a big hole for the ball-carrier down the sideline: 

Credit: Draft Breakdown

The two examples above do not make Grasu an immediate upgrade over Montgomery at the center position, but he is able to do a lot of things that Montgomery cannot. The veteran center relies more on his strength to overpower defenders in pass protection and in the running game, but he struggles to get out ahead on screen passes and struggles with his technique against quick interior defensive linemen.

Grasu still has a lot to learn about the position, and Oregon offensive line coach Steve Greatwood talked about some of the things the young center needs to work on, according to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune:

"

I think, again, it’s continuing to improve his technique. Learning how to dial in. At that level, everybody has to be just a superb technician and you can’t miss with your hands, you can’t miss with that first step. And those are things that Hroniss is good at doing. But he’ll need to continue to really drill it – hand placement, footwork, eyes. All those things. I think he’s tough enough, he’s competitive enough, he’s smart enough. Those things won’t be a liability or hindrance for him. It’s just the natural growth and maturation at that position of being able to learn every little nuance of the game.

"

While Grasu excels in the running game, he will need to get stronger in order to be an effective pass-blocker. He benefited from Oregon's wide-open, fast-paced offense that forced Mariota to get rid of the football quickly. In the NFL, he will need to learn how to maintain his blocks and will also have to get used to making snaps with the quarterback under center.

Oregon's offense ran almost exclusively out of the shotgun during Grasu's four-year career, and even though the Bears will utilize the shotgun formation a lot this season, he will need to prove he can handle short snaps.

He also had a tendency to grab at defenders instead of engaging them, and one NFL coach thinks Grasu got away with holding at the collegiate level.

"He grows on you over time, but he's got some warts," said an NFL offensive line coach, according to NFL.com's Lance Zierlein. "I don't know how he got away with as much holding as he did at Oregon. They will catch that in the pros."  

It will be a tough battle for Grasu this offseason to take the starting job away from Montgomery, but if he can improve his technique and add more strength, his athleticism makes him Chicago's best bet at the center position in 2015.

All screen shots were made using videos from Draft Breakdown. Statistical information courtesy of NFL.com unless otherwise noted.

Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.

Follow @MattEurich