Hroniss

Grasu

Grasu has appeared in 31 games, including 17 starts, over six professional seasons. The journeyman center has taken snaps with Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco and should serve as positional depth at center for Las Vegas.

Grasu was a healthy scratch most of the year. He made a Week 8 appearance at left guard for Bradley Bozeman and has been a starter for parts of the last three seasons. We’d expect Grassu to get claimed by an offensive line needy team.

He gives them depth behind locked-in starter Matt Skura.

He is up to 310 pounds after weighing in at 297 most of last season. The extra weight could help, but Grasu was well below average in eight rookie starts. He will face competition from both Ted Larsen and Manny Ramirez in training camp.

Grasu tore his ACL earlier this month, and Shaw broke his leg just above the ankle in the third preseason game. The Bears also waived LB Jarrett Grace, waived/injured LB Lamin Barrow, and placed LB Roy Robertson-Harris on the reserve/NFI list. Chicago is now at the 75-man roster limit.

He suffered the injury on a non-contact play at Saturday’s training camp practice. It’s a big loss for the Bears, who are thin at center after cutting Matt Slauson and losing Manny Ramirez to retirement. Now Ted Larsen and rookie Cody Whitehair will battle for the starting spot at center.

“It looked fairly serious,” said coach John Fox. Grasu went down in a heap with a non-contact injury to his right knee. It’s believed poor field conditions may have contributed to Grasu’s fall. This is par for the course at Soldier Field, which hosted a Coldplay concert amid heavy rainfall in late July.

A third-round pick last year, Grasu struggled in eight starts as a rookie. He’ll enter the offseason program penciled in as the starter, but the Bears showed their concern by bringing in three players with center experience. Both Ted Larsen and Manny Ramirez have played the position before, and some evaluators believe second-round pick Cody Whitehair’s future is at center. Grasu will need to show well to keep his job.

The Bears have now signed all six of their draft picks. Grasu should be given every opportunity to win Chicago’s Week 1 center job over journeyman Will Montgomery. The Bears still need to address their right tackle weakness.

Grasu (6'3/297) made 52 starts for the Ducks, earning second-team All-American honors as a senior and first-team All-Pac 12 in each of his final three seasons. His most notable 2014 performance came versus Washington, neutralizing Huskies NT Danny Shelton. An admirably consistent blocker with a highly competitive playing attitude, Grasu is a center only but has pro-ready traits. He has big hands (10 1/4"), plus movement skills (5.01/5.03 forty), and is a physical battler.