The Chicago Bears thought they secured the center position when they signed Drew Dalman to a three-year deal worth $42 million in free agency. He and the new-look interior offensive line have much to show early in training camp.
Dalman is set to be the fifth-starting Week 1 center in six seasons. The others were Coleman Shelton, Lucas Patrick, Sam Mustipher, and Cody Whitehair.
Dalman was thought to be the best center in free agency this offseason, but he’s struggling with the most important duty a center has: Snapping the football.
Drew Dalman is having a hard time snapping the ball
Per Zack Pearson of Bear Report, there were several bad snaps at Thursday’s practice.
“There were actually a couple of bad snaps on the day,” Pearson said. “You can just tell that the cadence isn’t fully there yet for this offense.
Neither is fortification that was expected when the Bears traded for veteran offensive guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney, a future Hall of Fame lineman.
The Chicago Bears’ new-look interior OL has the same problem
In addition to Dalman airmailing snaps to Williams, the interior offensive line had issues blocking defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft could have easily been injured while falling to avoid pressure early in training camp.
“It was another tough day for the offense on Thursday,” Pearson wrote. “They had a rough 11/11 period to open up the practice which included: Grady Jarrett pressure, reset to get re-huddled, bad snap over Williams’ shoulder, incompletion, scramble that saw Williams fall down trying to escape. It went about as bad as it could have gone without a turnover.”
It was expected that an offense with young players like Williams, Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland, Luther Burden III, and Ozzy Trapilo would have hiccups in the early part of camp. However, it’s a little concerning that an interior offensive line that was handed $145.5 million this offseason is struggling this poorly in July.
Overall, the offense has started poorly through the first two days of practice.
On the flip side, Jarrett and the defense look good!
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