Bear Digest

Where Drew Dalman's Shocking Retirement Leaves Bears at Center

The Bears will have options to replace their Pro Bowl center but many of those players are expensive and it could dash any hopes of adding to their pass rush.
Gene Chamberlain|
Drew Dalman made a huge impact on the Bears' line in 2025. And now he's gone.
Drew Dalman made a huge impact on the Bears' line in 2025. And now he's gone. | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Gene Chamberlain

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Chicago Bears

It's a shocking turn of events but a team looking to make the next big step may have just crumbled where it was strongest.

According to ESPN, Bears 27-year-old center Drew Dalman has told the team he is retiring.

Dalman was a Pro Bowl offensive lineman in 2025 for the first time in his career after signing as a free agent with the Bears. The former Stanford and Falcons center signed a deal that would have counted $14 million each of the next two years against the Bears' salary cap.

That's one way to free up money for free agency but it's going to tear apart an offensive line that dropped the Bears from 68 to 24 in sacks allowed, and let their running game move from 28th in the league to third.

Dalman had been their first Pro Bowl center since Olin Kreutz, and easily their best since Roberto Garza took over or Kreutz in 2011.

The Bears' backup center is Ryan Bates and he is a free agent. They brought along guard Luke Newman as a rookie learning some of the center position but he is hardly someone ready to take over at the position.
Another option might be moving Jonah Jackson to center. Jackson played center in Detroit for 24 snaps in an emergency role in 2021 and for 107 snaps the Rams in 2024. However, he wasn't very good at it in Los Angeles and moving him would be weakening right guard. Jackson ranked 18th among all guards last year according to Pro Football Focus.

This makes the center position a key draft and/or free  agency need for the Bears.

It isn't thought to be a great year for centers in free agency, and the best ones would be costly. Tyler Linderbaum of Baltimore is the best one but might be retained by Baltimore.

"Behind Linderbaum, the center market is top-heavy and lacking depth," said The Athletic's Daniel Popper in a free agency assessment. "Including Linderbaum, I gave out only four average starter or above grades at this position. Connor McGovern is a good player but he could end up back in Buffalo."

Detroit just released guard/center Graham Glasgow and his  past affiliation with Ben Johnson in Detroit might make him a potential addition.  The 33-year-old 10-year veteran's Spotrac.com market value is $5.8 million.

Lloyd Cushenberry was just released by Tennessee and has a Spotrac.com market value of $7.1 million.

Commanders center Tyler Biadasz is a free gent who has a Spotrac market value of $10.1 million.

Linderbaum is regarded as the third-best overall free agents by Pro Football Focus and his value is $17.7 million per Spotrac.com. McGovern's is $16.3 million.

Florida' Jake Slaughter, Auburn's Connor Lew, Kansas State's Sam Hecht, and Duke's Brian Parker II are generally regarded as the best centers  the draft, a position that often takes a great deal of time to develop.

With this disaster hitting the Bears at so late of a date, the thoughts of spending a  lot in free agency for edge rushers seems to make little sense.

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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.