Bears shouldn't rush to trade Garrett Bradbury

When the Chicago Bears learned that 2025 starting center Drew Dalman was unexpectedly retiring prior to free agency, the team worked quickly to find a suitable replacement by acquiring Garrett Bradbury from the New England Patriots in exchange for a 2027 fifth-round pick. The move was viewed as a temporary solution, as Bradbury had just one year left on his contract and will only cost $5. 7 million against the cap this season.

That perception became reality during the draft as Chicago selected center Logan Jones out of Iowa with the No. 57 overall pick. Jones, a four-year starter, is expected to become the team's next starting center at some point, whether it's later this season over Bradbury or beginning in 2027.

With Jones' experience and other teams like the Baltimore Ravens publicly saying they don't have an answer for the center position, many are connecting the dots that Chicago could send them Bradbury for a late-round pick before he ever snaps the ball as a member of the Bears. That shouldn't happen, and it won't happen. The Bears acquired Bradbury in part due to his experience with different types of quarterbacks and for how he can solidify an offensive line.

"We felt like the best thing for us to do was to make that trade with a veteran center that's played with a young quarterback before, that's very good with his communication, smart, been in different systems," Poles said in March via ESPN's Courtney Cronin. "We feel like he can plug in and have command of that O-line. " The front office likes the idea of pairing a veteran with quarterback Caleb Williams to start out.