PFF has released its positional rankings ahead of the 2023 season and recently dropped its center rankings.
They ranked Bears center Cody Whitehair the No. 11 center in the NFL.
"Whitehair has had quite a strange career with the Bears, shuffling about the interior offensive line," PFF wrote. "After earning 71.0-plus PFF grades primarily as a center in his first three seasons in the league, he was kicked out to guard for the first half of the 2019 season before spending the second half of the year back at center.
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"The second half of 2020 through the end of the 2022 season was spent at guard, so it’s been over two seasons since we’ve seen him as a starting center, where he performed better throughout his career."
The past 3-4 seasons of Whitehair's career have been at left guard. Last season, with Sam Mustipher holding down the center spot, Whitehair and Teven Jenkins held down the fort at the guard spots.
This offseason, the Bears let Mustipher walk in free agency and he signed with the Baltimore Ravens. In response, the Bears will likely kick Whitehair back to center to make room for Nate Davis, the right guard they signed away from the Tennesee Titans.
As PFF wrote, there's optimism behind Whitehair's move back to his native spot. He spent the first three seasons of his career as the center before moving to left guard. According to PFF, his best work has come at the center spot.
