Cubs News: Bates on Williams' progress in training camp: "He's kicking ass" |
LAKE FOREST, I.L. - The center competition has been heating up in Chicago, with Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton both performing well.
However, Bates emphasized that this is more of a friendly competition - while both players want the starting job, they are also actively helping each other and learning from each other. “Me and Coleman, we’re battling out. Coleman’s a great guy and a great teammate. During OTAs, we really got to form a bond. I help him. He helps me. Iron sharpens iron. So, it’s going great right now,” Bates said. “We all love each other in the room. Times like during training camp is when you build that chemistry, that shared suffrage, and this time of year is when we really grow that chemistry and we really help each other, and everybody’s rooting for everybody. Everyone’s trying to obviously win the job at the end of the day. But, we’re all trying to make each other better.” Bates and Shelton come from similar backgrounds. Both have played in the league for the same amount of time, and both learned under some of the same offensive line coaches. Aaron Kramer served as the offensive line coach for the Los Angeles Rams from 2017 to 2020, working with Shelton, before he became the offensive line coach for the Buffalo Bills, working with Bates, since 2022. They also both worked with Ryan Wendell, who was the Bills' assistant offensive line coach from 2019 to 2022 before becoming the Rams' offensive line coach in 2023. “We’re very similar. We’re both lighter guys. We’re not 320, 330 pounds. We both can move really well. We play really similar. We come from (the) same (coaches) in the past. He had (Kramer and Wendell in) LA. I had (them) in Buffalo,” Bates said. “So, we’ve been coached and taught the same things prior to being here and so, we have the same mindset, the way we think, the way we move, it’s all very similar.” There is also one key difference between Bates and Shelton. While Shelton spent the entirety of his career with Los Angeles playing center, Bates has experience at both left guard and right guard, making him a more versatile player overall. So, if he does not win the center competition, he could potentially play at other positions later on. “Right now, I’m solely focused on center. But you never know. I’ve been thrown in at either guard during a walk-through,” Bates said. You never know what happens during a game. You can get thrown in there in a pinch, and I’m ready. I know the interior three. I’m trying to (have) a master understanding of this offense, and every day, it’s getting better and better.” The offensive line room as a whole is much different in Chicago as compared to Buffalo. While Bates was one of the younger players with the Bills, he is one of the more experienced players with the Bears, propelling him into a leadership role. “It’s a lot of young guys in the room right now. I think, right now, year six, I think maybe the fourth or third oldest in the room,” Bates said. “I came from Buffalo. We had people (in) year 12, year 13, year 10. So, we’re a young group and we’re developing real well and I’m stepping in that role and embracing the leadership aspect of it.” Another aspect about Bates coming from Buffalo is that he was able to watch the progression of quarterback Josh Allen. Allen did not start his career off as an elite quarterback but quickly progressed to be one of the top signal-callers in the league. Watching rookie quarterback Caleb Williams now, Bates already sees signs that he can progress to be one of the best as well, specifically pointing to his jump from organized team activities (OTAs) to training camp. “I think that jump from OTAs to now. I think there was just a huge step forward for him, being vocal, doing a great job with his cadence, getting everybody on the same page,” Bates said. “The play calls because it’s a lot different than what he was doing in college, and he’s embracing it wholeheartedly, and he’s kicking ass. He really is.”
