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Bear Digest

Apparent Mutual Admiration Brewing Between Bears and a Top Center

The Bears had a widely discussed pro day visit with Kansas State's center and his interview with Kay Adams about it fuels the fire of speculation.
Gene Chamberlain|
Kansas State Wildcats quarterback Avery Johnson takes the snap from center Sam Hecht. against UCF last season.
Kansas State Wildcats quarterback Avery Johnson takes the snap from center Sam Hecht. against UCF last season. | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears apparently left quite a large impression on Kansas State center Sam Hecht from their visit to his pro day.

Hecht made an appearance with Kay Adams on Up & Adams and his face probably said more about his thoughts on the possibility coming to play in Chicago than he actually said. To say Hecht's eyes lit up would be an understatement after he did a workout for Bears offensive line coach Dan Roushar and assistant offensive line coach Kyle DeVan.

"Their own line coach and assistant line coach were the ones putting us through the O-line drills," Hecht told Adams. "It was great to meet them. Yeah, really appreciated their relationship."

The thought of being a longer-term replacement for Drew Dalman than free agent acquisition Garrett Bradbury doesn't seem like a bad idea to Hecht, either. Bradbury received a one-year contract and it looks like they're using him as a bridge center to a draft pick, just like New England did last season while making the Super Bowl.

Another center for Caleb

Blocking for Caleb Williams sounds like it would be a great place to land in the draft, Hecht told Adams.

If they drafted Hecht with a plan to move out Bradbury after a season, it would mean Williams had four different starting centers snapping him the ball in four years. He'll already be at three in three years.

"I mean yeah, protecting a quarterback of that caliber, that's super exciting for sure,"  Hecht said. "And, you know, the staff and the O-line coach and his assistant O-line coach were amazing. I feel like we grew a good relationship just from the short time that we had with each other."

Hecht put up numbers in an important area for a center in the Bears' offense and that's speed. He ran 5.1 in the 40, which put him top 20 for all combine centers ever according to Mockdraftable.com. His 10-yard split on that time was 1.73 seconds, top 16%

Hecht currently is rated 78th, or a third-rounder, on the NFL Mock Draft Data Base big board.

Pro Football Focus sees it similar, and doesn't have Hecht as the best center  prospect. They grade him 84th overall, four behind top center prospect Connor Lew of Auburn.

Hecht's speed was apparent as a strength to NFL.com's draft analyst, Lance Zierlein.

"Hecht lacks ideal mass and length but it will be hard to find a center in this year’s draft with better technique," Zierlein wrote. "He plays with well-placed inside hands that help maximize his leverage and core strength. All schemes are available to him but his athleticism will shine when activated in space."

It's a description not unlike what Bears GM Ryan Poles laid out as what he looked for in someone to replace Dalman short term while talking last week about the center spot.

"The big thing for us is finding the right fit in terms of what's going to be adaptable  and that's going to fit into especially the outside zones scheme, mid zone," he said.

Hecht actually had a much better 2025 season than Lew and was graded fourth out of 306 centers in the nation even though PFF grades him a bit worse. Lew had been 85th in 2025 after being ranked 20th in 1984.

PFF actually has two other centers graded in similar proximity to those two. Florida's Jake Slaughter was graded 90th among all picks in the class and Iowa's Logan Jones was 95th.

They don't have another center graded in range of those four until Kentucky's Jager Burton at 141, or early in Round 5. ESPN's Mel Kiper grades Jones No. 1 but Florida's Slaughter No. 2.

Matt Gulbin of Michigan State actually had a higher PFF grade last year than all of those players, but is graded below them for the draft.

So it would seem very likely that at some point in Round 3 the Bears could come out of it  with a center for the future beyond Garrett Bradbury's one-year contract, whether it's Hecht or someone else.

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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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