NFL executive offers shocking assessment of Chicago Bears' revamped offensive line

The general vibe around the Chicago Bears' 2025 offseason moves has been positive. General manager Ryan Poles' trades for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, as well as the signing of center Drew Dalman, were seen as necessary transactions to rebuild an offensive line that failed to protect prized quarterback Caleb Williams.

Dalman is viewed as the team's biggest free-agent acquisition. He was widely considered the top center available in free agency, and the Bears acted quickly to secure his services. He signed a three-year, $42 million deal that makes him the second-highest paid center (average annual salary) in the NFL.

Great move, right? Well, maybe.

The Athletic's Mike Sando spoke with NFL executives to assess the job every team in the league has done so far this offseason, and while the Bears did earn some compliments, there were concerning remarks about Dalman and his role on the offensive line.

Concerns with Bears center Drew Dalman?

“I applaud them for doing it the way they are doing it,” an NFL executive told Sando. “You get two proven commodities at guard, and the head coach (Ben Johnson) knows Jonah Jackson from Detroit. It’s an overpay for the center, but they have a chance to address left tackle in the draft and come away with a pretty formidable group.”

OK, fine. This exec likes the moves at guard and thinks Poles overpaid Dalman, which is what most analysts predicted would happen anyway. It's NFL free agency, after all; teams desperate for an upgrade at a particular position -- like the Bears were at center -- have no choice but to spend above market value for an improvement.

But that wasn't the worst of the Dalman assessments.

“Time will tell if their guard play enables the gap-scheme element as a complement," the league exec told Sando. "I do think the integrity of the pocket, with that center, will be compromised in dropback situations. I’d imagine they are planning on staying out of those situations as much as they can.”

Wait, what? The integrity of the pocket will be compromised? Wasn't the whole point of the Chicago Bears' offseason plan to make sure Caleb Williams has a clean pocket?

Look, this is one executive's opinion. And, sure, Dalman isn't a perfect center. But there's absolutely, positively no doubt that he's the best center Chicago will field since Cody Whitehair stopped playing the position in 2020. And even Whitehair wasn't great at the end of his center run.

Let's hope this one opinion from this one executive is wrong. The Bears obviously disagree. Drew Dalman's paycheck proves it.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson is a big Dalman fan, too.

“At that spot, that’s critical," Johnson said. "He is going to be the quarterback of our offensive line. He’ll be setting the protections in the run game for us, something he has done in the past. And I think we can put even more on his plate than what he has been exposed to previously. I’m excited about that. He is still learning. He’s still growing as a player. He has not hit his ceiling either. He has already asked me several times, ‘What did you see on tape that I can get better at?’ That’s the type of person we’re getting.”

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