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Chicago Bears' Plan for Logan Jones Bucks Trend for Recent Top Centers

The plan for Logan Jones to sit while Garrett Bradbury plays all year would be unusual compared to what happened with recent centers drafted in Rounds 1 and 2.
Gene Chamberlain|
Former Iowa center Logan Jones meets with the Halas Hall media the day after being drafted in Round 2 by the Bears.
Former Iowa center Logan Jones meets with the Halas Hall media the day after being drafted in Round 2 by the Bears. | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Chicago Bears video

The Bears have called it a center competition but also understand Garrett Bradbury has the experience and will be the likely starter as second-round rookie Logan Jones learns.

Then again, coach Ben Johnson couldn't shut the door on the possibility a rookie could prevail. The Bears didn't pay Bradbury like an elite-level starter at a cap number of $5.7 million, so perhaps this is a possibility.

"The guys at Iowa were raving about him, and then just the next level in terms of the football IQ as well," Johnson said. "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.”

It's not an easy position to pick up because of the importance of knowing the offense, knowing defensive fronts and what they're up to, and communicating it to other linemen.

“It's a vital part of our offense and it's not easy to do," GM Ryan Poles said. "So when you come from a school like Iowa, you're taught the right way. You understand the communication aspect of it. You're the glue, you're the circuit board of that offensive line and you helped the run game. He's been doing that for a while now. We felt really comfortable with his intelligence and experience to come in and compete.

"We feel really good about Garrett being the starting center. Obviously, we're going to always compete there, but if something were to happen, we feel really good that we're not going to have a huge letdown for (Jones) going in the game and operating at a high level.”

Perhaps it will be more than that role. Perhaps it will be a starting role. It happens to centers taken earlier in the draft, and even later.

In the five drafts before the one last week, 13 centers were drafted in the first two rounds. Some started immediately while a number of them played but did it at other positions.

How Round 1 and 2 centers did

There were no centers drafted in the first two rounds in 2025.

  • In 2024, Graham Barton, Zach Frazier and Jackson Powers-Johnson were the centers taken in the first two rounds. Barton and Frazier were starters at center all year while Powers-Johnson played most of his snaps at guard in his first two seasons but did get in some 450 snaps at center over two years.
  • In 2023, four centers were drafted in the first two rounds. Juice Scruggs has played 1,093 snaps at guard and 568 at center. Joe Tippmann and John Michael Schmitz were center starters from Day 1, although Tippmann got moved to guard last year. Steve Avila has been a guard and not a center.
  • In 2022, Tyler Linderbaum came in and started from Day 1 at center while Cam Jurgens is the rarity. Jurgens waited until the retirement of Eagles great Jason Kelce before getting to play center.
  • In 2021, Josh Myers and Creed Humphrey played center from the get-go but Myers had to go on IR much of the season with a knee injury. Landon Dickerson and Liam Eichenberg got some plays at center but by far the majority of their plays came at other positions.
Logan Jones' 4.9-second 40-yard dash at the combine was faster than Drew Dalman's time.
Logan Jones' 4.9-second 40-yard dash at the combine was faster than Drew Dalman's was. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

What is apparent is it is entirely uncommon for the centers taken in the first two rounds to sit out the whole year while a veteran plays center for the full season. Jurgens is really the only example of this with centers drafted in the first two rounds in the last five drafts before 2026.

This isn't even what happened with the Patriots last year when Jared Wilson was drafted and they still had Bradbury.

They kept Bradbury at center and moved Wilson to guard for 13 games. Now Wilson will be the center. However, in this case Wilson was a third-round pick and not a second-rounder.

If a center gets picked in the first two rounds they have played somewhere as a rookie in the last five years. Training camp will help decide how the Bears handle it, but Jones will be 25 years old in October and played at a school known for producing offensive linemen. If anyone should be ready to start right way, he should be.

There's no reason to think they should be the ones to break precedent.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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