The Chicago Bears’ commitment to fortifying in the trenches is garnering praise inside the NFL, and out.
I asked a half-dozen NFL executives which team they believed has improved the most so far in free agency, and the Bears were a unanimous choice.
“They added big-time ‘trench players’ on both sides of the football,” an NFC South personnel executive told me.
As it turns out, trading for guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney merely set the stage for general manager Ryan Poles and the Bears to pull off one of the more impressive free agent signings, and top schematic fits of free agency’s first wave.
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Chicago Bears’ Drew Dalman signing among best of NFL free agency
Pro Football Focus’ Mason Cameron put together a list of his favorite, and least favorite, free agent signings by each team, including praising the Bears for adding former Atlanta Falcons center Drew Dalman on Day 1.
“Dalman not only acts as the final piece to the Bears’ puzzle up front,” Cameron writes for PFF. “But he also profiles as perhaps the best scheme fit for any new free agent to sign with a new team this cycle. New head coach Ben Johnson’s fingerprints are all over this signing, and it bodes well for his team’s potential breakout in 2025.”
If he’s fully healthy, Dalman has the potential to not only be the anchor of the Bears’ overhauled offensive line, but perhaps even make a transformational impact on the entire offense.
After all, wunderkind former No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams was sacked 68 times last season, and while it’s evident that Poles and the Bears have prioritized beefing up the offensive line in front of their franchise quarterback, a consistently dominant center can be the glue that holds the entire unit together.
Last season, Dalman surrendered only two sacks and 10 quarterback pressures, while garnering a strong 78.8 overall grade from Pro Football Focus.
If Dalman is able to replicate, and even build on that consistently high level of play, the $28 million guaranteed that the Bears paid the stalwart 26-year-old could prove to be a bargain.
Chicago Bears 3 ‘biggest losses’ during free agency
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