Chicago Bears fans were stunned when Drew Dalman announced his retirement from football at the age of 27. Dalman was coming off an excellent year for the Bears and had a connection with Caleb Williams, and if anyone expected Drew Dalman news this offseason, it would have been an early extension, not a retirement.
But Dalman made the best decision for himself and his family, and the Bears had to immediately pivot to finding themselves a new center. There was one center on the market that everybody immediately coveted as the replacement, Tyler Linderbaum.
Linderbaum was expected to have a big market and carry a big pricetag. Kansas City Chiefs C Creed Humphery was holding the title for the highest paid center in the league at $18 million per year, so the expectation was that Linderbaum would beat that by a comfortable margin. Reports were as high as Linderbaum getting $22 or $23 million a year.
The Bears were certainly poking around Linderbaum’s market, but when the Raiders came in with a contract that was going to pay him $27 million a year, the Bears quickly looked in another direction.
They found a solid, veteran center who was available, Garrett Bradbury.
Bradbury turns 31 this June and had spent last season in New England after spending the previous six seasons of his career in Minnesota. At this point in his career, Bradbury is a decent center. He certainly isn’t a mauler in the run game and while he doesn’t give up many sacks, he does tend to give up pressures.
But he’s a smart veteran who will pick up this offense quickly and should see his performance improve between two outstanding guards, including the best lineman in the league, Joe Thuney.
The Bears gave up reasonable draft compensation in the trade (5th round pick). Now, I don’t love Bradbury, but when you try to grade this transaction, I think you have to look at it objectively and fairly. The Bears were simply not going to afford Tyler Linderbaum. Bradbury is an affordable price and when you look at the other available centers, Bradbury fits the scheme and there isn’t a sizeable gap between Bradbury’s skill and the other available centers after Linderbaum. Connor McGovern got $13 million a year from Buffalo, Bradbury’s cap hit is just $5.7 million.
Now, the key to this move is what the Bears do at the end of April in the NFL Draft. It’s almost a certainty that they’ll be spending a pick on a center to learn from Bradbury and step into the role in 2027. If the Bears choose to leave the future of the center up in the air, this move becomes a lot more questionable.