Former Bears center Sam Mustipher signs free agent deal with new team

Former Bears center Sam Mustipher is headed to Denver. The Broncos announced on Thursday that they signed Mustipher to a one-year contract.

The Broncos need to find a replacement for Lloyd Cushenberry III, who signed a four-year deal with the Titans earlier this offseason. As things stand, Mustipher is the most experienced center in the Broncos room, so he figures to be a real competitor to win the starting job.

In addition to Mustipher, the Broncos have Alex Forsyth and Luke Wattenberg in the mix for the center job. Forsyth was a seventh-round pick in last year’s draft and did not play at all last season. The Broncos selected Wattenberg in the fifth-round of the 2022 draft who has only played 128 snaps on offense with one start at left guard. Mustipher on the other hand started 40 of his 43 games at center for the Bears from 2020-2022. Last season, Mustipher appeared in nine games for the Ravens with two starts at center.

The Bears signed Mustipher as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He spent his entire rookie season on the Bears practice squad and made his NFL debut in Week 6 of the 2020 season on special teams. One week later, Mustipher entered the game at center for the first time due to injury. One week after that he was named the team’s starter. That was a job he held on to for nearly the entirety of the rest of his Bears career. Mustipher missed two starts due to injury in 2020 and was benched for one game in 2022.