The Chicago Bears wasted little time finding a new center for the 2026 season. Days after Pro Bowler Drew Dalman retired, the Bears traded for Garrett Bradbury to fill the void. You can read our original post on the news when it broke last week here.
Garrett Bradbury, Center
Age: 30 (turns 31 on June 20) College: North Carolina State Measurables: 6-3, 300 pounds Career stats: 105 games played (88 with the Minnesota Vikings from 2019-2024, 17 with the New England Patriots in 2025) 2025 stats: 17 games, 0 sacks allowed, 4 quarterback hits allowed, 20 total pressures allowed, 0 penalties in 1,070 snaps Recent Pro Football Focus grades: 59.8 (2025, 29th of 37 centers), 52.8 (2024, 27th/40 Cs), 60.9 (2023, 23rd/36 Cs), 67.5 (2022, 11th/36 Cs) Notable accomplishments: Rimington Trophy (2018), Consensus All-American (2018), First-team All-ACC (2018), Minnesota Vikings first-round pick (2019), Has started eight playoff games (4 with the Vikings, 4 with the Pats) How they got him: The Bears agreed to send a 2027 fifth-round pick to the New England Patriots to acquire Garrett Bradbury on March 6. However, the deal cannot be finalized and made official until 3 p.m. CT on March 11. © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn ImagesGarrett Bradbury wasn’t on my radar as a Bears trade candidate because he had just come off a season in which he started in every game the Patriots played last season. Bradbury started all 17 regular-season games and each of the team’s four postseason contests. But because the team had 2025 third-round pick Jared Wilson waiting in the wings, Bradbury became expendable. What a fortuitous break for Chicago’s front office after Drew Dalman’s surprise retirement.
Garrett Bradbury Highlights
I remember watching this live and laughing out loud. Little did I know that Bradbury would later become a member of the Chicago Bears.
New @ChicagoBears center Garrett Bradbury is bringing his athleticism back to the NFC North ? pic.twitter.com/BMPlf2bSak
— NFL (@NFL) March 6, 2026Salary cap impact of Garrett Bradbury signing
The Bears are taking on the remainder of the two-year, $9.5 million contract Bradbury signed with the New England Patriots last offseason. Here is a breakdown (via Over The Cap’s data) of that deal with regards to how it fits into Chicago’s cap situation:
Base salary: $3.7 million Per game roster bonus: $850,000 Cap number: $5.7 million Cap percentage: 1.8%This feels like a good place to point out that the Bears could create $5.7 million in cap space by cutting Bradbury. Perhaps that could be on the table if things go off the rails and the team snags a center prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft who plays his way into a starting role this summer. However, given how much needs to happen in order to trigger the possibility of a Bradbury cut, I would deem it to be highly unlikely. In other words, Garrett Bradbury will most likely be your Week 1 starting center for Chicago’s football team.
Garrett Bradbury’s Role With the Chicago Bears in 2026
Unless something totally unforeseen happens, Garrett Bradbury will be the Bears’ starting center in 2026. On the surface, it looks like a notable downgrade from Drew Dalman. And at first blush, it worries me. However, I can see a scenario play out in which Bradbury is a league-average center.
In Chicago, Bradbury gets an opportunity to play next to All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney (who was his college teammate) and right guard Jonah Jackson, who played at a Pro Bowl level for most of the 2025 season. Playing between two quality guards could help cover some of the deficiencies Bradbury has in his game. And because we just saw Jackson have an impressive one-year turnaround upon arriving in Chicago after turning in a dud while with the Los Angeles Rams, I am holding out a little bit of hope that whatever Offensive Line Coach Dan Roushar did to get him back on track could be applied to Bradbury.
One thing I can’t stop thinking about is that Garrett Bradbury is here on what is essentially a one-year deal. Given how we saw the Patriots draft Bradbury’s replacement last spring, I can see the Bears following that path by drafting his replacement in April. Drafting a center, letting him sit behind Bradbury, and allowing the prospect to learn the offense while picking up the intricacies of life in the NFL without throwing them to the wolves seems like a sensible thing to do. It is a tough needle to thread, but it isn’t impossible.
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