Bear Digest

Playing for Ben Johnson Just One Reason New Bears Center Is Charged Up

Garrett Bradbury is familiar with Chicago, and one teammate in particular, as well as the coach he admired while playing in Minnesota.
Gene Chamberlain|
Patriots center Garrett Bradbury sets up to block after snapping to Drake Maye in the Super Bowl.
Patriots center Garrett Bradbury sets up to block after snapping to Drake Maye in the Super Bowl. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

New Chicago Bears center Garrett Bradbury returns to familiarity in the NFC North via trade after playing most of his career in Minnesota snapping the ball to Kirk Cousins.

It's not familiar just because of the division the Bears play in, though.

If there was one thing Bradbury learned from his first stint in the division, it's that he's going to like playing on an offensive line with Ben Johnson as coach.

"I’m fired up," Bradbury said. "I’m not just saying that. Playing against Ben when I was in Minnesota and he was in Detroit all those years, you watch certain offenses as an offensive line. There’s offenses that excite you.

"His is certainly one of them. You know what you’re gonna get—you wanna run the football and you want play-action. It’s a physical brand of football, which I think everyone wants to sign up for. The brief time I got to talk with him, he relayed that message. And so it’s going to be exciting, it’s going to be a lot of hard work, and that’s what I’m ready to sign up for."

Bradbury, acquired in a trade for a fifth-round draft pick, should have no problem fitting in with his new surroundings not only because he's familiar with his new coach, but also because his wife was born in Naperville.  And there's another reason. He's playing alongside Joe Thuney again.

Teammates at North Carolina State and road roommates, he knows what to expect from the All-Pro who lines up to his left to block.

"Spent two years with Joe in college," Bradbury said. "I think everyone in college knew when he left college what kind of player he was. No one was surprised by the success he’s had. It blows my mind that two teams have let that guy walk out of the building."

The Bears got Thuney from Kansas City for a fourth-round pick. The 2025 NFL Protector of the Year Award winner originally was in New England before going to the Chiefs.

"He’s just a special guy. He’s a pro," Bradbury said. "He handles everything the right way. He’s a good leader. He works his butt off. He’s as consistent as they come.

"I had some fun times with him in college. We kinda kept up over the years, just being in the NFL together and playing against him a few times. Definitely excited to get back together with him."

Playing in an offense with a young, ascending quarterback after he just did that in New England last year will be familiar, as well, but you won't find Bradbury making comparisons between the QB he snapped to in the Super Bowl, Drake Maye, and Bears QB Caleb Williams.

"Everyone’s different and you try not to make comparisons in this league, but I feel like earlier in my career I learned something from Kirk (Cousins) every day, whether it was football related or life related," Bradbury said. "That was a cool five years for me to have a mentor and a friend out there.

"And then I spent the year with Sam Darnold and we were kind of the  same experience at that point and were learning from each other. And then to the other end of the spectrum with a 22-year-old quarterback last year. And Caleb is the same age. It’s the same process of I want to get to know them and they want to get to know me, and if there’s ways I can help them."

His goal is to avoid being a problem for Williams.

"I think the quarterback position is so unique that there’s so many people talking to them, there’s so much on their plate that you don’t want to be a guy that just adds to that," Bradbury said. "I kind of want to pick my spots and find ways. If I can help him in any way, then great. That’s what I’m here for. But I don’t want to add. I don’t just want to be another voice in their head."

The Bears have had several experienced leaders leave and one of  those was Bradbury's predecessor, Drew Dalman. He left after one season and retired at age 27.

So, Bradbury can supply some veteran leadership as well as experience making it to a Super Bowl.

"It was unbelievable," he said about being in the Super Bowl. "You can’t put it  into words. You can’t put a price tag on it. It was the coolest moment of my career, for sure. Leading up to it, winning all those playoff games. It felt like a dream. I kind of had to hold myself (back), I was getting choked up pregame with the national anthem. It was pretty emotional.

"The game didn’t go how we wanted it to, that’s for sure. But a special year nonetheless. And then you finish the game and finish the season and you’re like, oh my gosh, it’s mid-February. Certainly never played that deep (into the year). But it was an awesome experience."

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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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