ChicagoBreakingSports
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By Brad Biggs
The Bears' plan at the end of last week was to give Josh Beekman a taste of action at left guard after he dutifully had filled in at center for Olin Kreutz for the entire offseason program.
The Bears were going to move right guard Roberto Garza inside for a few practices to allow Beekman to reacquaint himself to left guard, the position where he has made 20 starts over the last two seasons and will compete for a job in training camp with Johan Asiata, an undrafted free agent last year from UNLV.
The switch also was going to give the team a peek at Lance Louis at right guard in place of Garza, and if offensive line coach Mike Tice has enjoyed one thing in the past three months, it has been trying different combinations.
The best-laid plans, in this instance, lasted a day. Then Garza had to split as his wife gave birth to a daughter.
"The poor guy," Tice said of Beekman. "He didn't get but one day at left guard, but Josh will be in the mix (at left guard in training camp)."
Figure Beekman and Asiata to be the competitors at left guard. The restof the line seems fairly set, but Tice has been high on Louis, according to veteran players. The proof will be in the padswhen the linemen finally go to work with all of their equipment inBourbonnais.
"There are only so many things we can do in shorts," Tice said. "I likewhere we are at in shorts. Some of the guys, quite frankly, that lookgood in shorts right now will probably take a step back, hopefully nota big step, when we put pads on. Some of the guys who don't look sogood in shorts are going to look really good in pads and the guy whopops up to me is Kevin Shaffer. Silky Smooth is not a silky smoothathlete, that's why we call him Silky, right? But he gets the job done.
"When he gets the pads on, it's a whole different deal. Then we've gotsome guys who are shining - I'm not going to name names - right now inshorts that I think when we get pads on might take a little stepbackward."
Tice doesn't want to leave the impression that the only competitionwill be at left guard. He knows where Kreutz and left tackle ChrisWilliams will be. The rest is to be determined. He likes Garza at rightguard and he likes Frank Omiyale at right tackle. That doesn't mean astarting lineup is 80 percent set.
"Not to give up too much information, I see Beekman and Johan battlingand I also see other battles going," Tice said. "You can read betweenthe lines. You never know, some other guys could move. I'm willing tohave the best five guys on the field, I don't care what their namesare. I am not partial to anyone except Olin or Chris. I think those twoguys are elite."
More...
The Bears' plan at the end of last week was to give Josh Beekman a taste of action at left guard after he dutifully had filled in at center for Olin Kreutz for the entire offseason program.
The Bears were going to move right guard Roberto Garza inside for a few practices to allow Beekman to reacquaint himself to left guard, the position where he has made 20 starts over the last two seasons and will compete for a job in training camp with Johan Asiata, an undrafted free agent last year from UNLV.
The switch also was going to give the team a peek at Lance Louis at right guard in place of Garza, and if offensive line coach Mike Tice has enjoyed one thing in the past three months, it has been trying different combinations.
The best-laid plans, in this instance, lasted a day. Then Garza had to split as his wife gave birth to a daughter.
"The poor guy," Tice said of Beekman. "He didn't get but one day at left guard, but Josh will be in the mix (at left guard in training camp)."
Figure Beekman and Asiata to be the competitors at left guard. The restof the line seems fairly set, but Tice has been high on Louis, according to veteran players. The proof will be in the padswhen the linemen finally go to work with all of their equipment inBourbonnais.
"There are only so many things we can do in shorts," Tice said. "I likewhere we are at in shorts. Some of the guys, quite frankly, that lookgood in shorts right now will probably take a step back, hopefully nota big step, when we put pads on. Some of the guys who don't look sogood in shorts are going to look really good in pads and the guy whopops up to me is Kevin Shaffer. Silky Smooth is not a silky smoothathlete, that's why we call him Silky, right? But he gets the job done.
"When he gets the pads on, it's a whole different deal. Then we've gotsome guys who are shining - I'm not going to name names - right now inshorts that I think when we get pads on might take a little stepbackward."
Tice doesn't want to leave the impression that the only competitionwill be at left guard. He knows where Kreutz and left tackle ChrisWilliams will be. The rest is to be determined. He likes Garza at rightguard and he likes Frank Omiyale at right tackle. That doesn't mean astarting lineup is 80 percent set.
"Not to give up too much information, I see Beekman and Johan battlingand I also see other battles going," Tice said. "You can read betweenthe lines. You never know, some other guys could move. I'm willing tohave the best five guys on the field, I don't care what their namesare. I am not partial to anyone except Olin or Chris. I think those twoguys are elite."
More...
