Chicago Bears and Garrett Bradbury Agree to Reworked Contract, per Report

The Chicago Bears and center Garrett Bradbury have reportedly agreed to a reworked contract that gives him more guaranteed money for 2026.

Former New England Patriots center Garrett Bradbury. | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

With trade speculation swirling around him in recent weeks, the Chicago Bears and veteran center Garrett Bradbury have renegotiated his contract.

According to Spotrac's Michael Ginnitti, the rework sees $1 million in incentives turned into guaranteed money. This means Bradbury is now owed $4.7 million this season, with $3.7 million guaranteed.

"Garrett Bradbury signed a renegotiated contract with the Bears that converted $1M of incentives into guaranteed salary," Ginnitti wrote. "The 30-year-old is now due $4.7M in 2026, with $3.7M guaranteed."

Bradbury was acquired via trade with the New England Patriots this offseason in the wake of the shocking retirement of Drew Dalman and the expectation has been that he will start.

However, the Bears made things interesting during the 2026 NFL Draft when they not only drafted a center in Logan Jones, but did so in the second round, a pick that was earlier than expected, both because Jones was believed to be more of a third-rounder or so and because many experts believed the middle rounds is when centers would begin really flying off the board.

Garrett Bradbury trade speculation

Former New England Patriots center Garrett Bradbury. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

After the pick, head coach Ben Johnson confirmed that Jones will be competing for a starting job, which means Bradbury's role is no longer completely secured, whether that be for the start of the season or at some point during it.

"The guys at Iowa were raving about him, and then just the next level in terms of the football IQ as well," Johnson explained. "So, I think none of us have any qualms that he'll be able to download the information and, once again, it's just another spot that we'll have high level competition at.”

This now creates an interesting dynamic where Jones could win the starting job out of training camp and force Bradbury to the bench.

If that happens, the speculation has been that Chicago might then turn around and trade the veteran, who the team spent a fifth-round pick on in the trade with New England.

Guaranteeing more money for Bradbury would seem to indicate a trade of the veteran is now less likely and instead the Bears might be keen on keeping him around, even if he falls to No. 2 on the depth chart.

Keeping Bradbury around as more depth if he loses the starting job wouldn't be the worst idea, although we still tend to believe Chicago would trade him in that scenario if the offer is right.