Chicago Bears guard Eric Kush will miss season with hamstring injury

Chicago Bears reserve offensive lineman Eric Kush has suffered a major hamstring injury and will miss the entire 2017 season.

After practice on Monday, Chicago Bears head coach John Fox announced that offensive lineman Eric Kush will miss the entire 2017 season with a hamstring injury. Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times, gives us a bit more detail on Kush’s injury and helps explain how the Bears will replace him up front.

"“Kush tore his hamstring off the bone and will need surgery to repair it, Bears coach John Fox said Monday after practice. Kush had struggled with hamstring pain in camp, but tore the muscle from the bone on a different portion of the muscle Friday.”“To make up for loss of Kush, the Bears are having Cody Whitehair play backup guard with Hroniss Grasu taking Whitehair’s place at center.”"

Losing a reserve offensive lineman may not seem like a big deal, but Kush played really well for the Bears down the stretch last season. He filled in admirably for Kyle Long at the right guard position and provided quality depth up front. Kush is a solid backup guard who was also the major favorite to be the Bears’ backup center.

The Chicago Bears signed Kush to a two-year, $2.7 million contract over the offseason and he was expected to come in and play a valuable role. Now, the Bears will likely look to Hroniss Grasu as their primary backup interior lineman.

With Long, Cody Whitehair and Josh Sitton, the Bears have a strong starting interior trio. However, Long has dealt with many injuries throughout his career. Having Kush there as security was nice.

Grasu is a talented player, but he is almost completely unproven at the NFL level and is coming off of a torn ACL that forced him to miss all of last season. Grasu also only plays the center position.

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Using Grasu as the backup center and Whitehair as a backup guard is the best plan of attack available for the Chicago Bears, but it is not an ideal situation. Whitehair thrived as the Bears’ starting center last season and appears to have a bright future at the position.

He would likely play well at guard if needed as well, but having him a full-time and consistent home would certainly be more ideal. This injury to Kush certainly hurts the Bears’ depth up front and may stunt the development of an important player in Whitehair.