Bears GM Ryan Poles sounds off on Drew Dalman's retirement
· Yahoo Sports
The Chicago Bears were dealt a massive blow before free agency when it was announced that center Drew Dalman was retiring after just five NFL seasons.
Dalman was fresh off his first Pro Bowl season after signing a three-year, $42 million contract with the Bears last offseason, where he served as part of an overhaul of the interior offensive line alongside All-Pro Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson. The Bears quickly pivoted by trading for Garrett Bradbury, sending a 2027 fifth-round pick to the New England Patriots. It's a move that proved to be a smart one ahead of a competitive and expensive free agent market at center.
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Now that the dust has settled after the first week of free agency, general manager Ryan Poles sounded off on Dalman's surprising retirement and how the team was able to adjust on the fly ahead of free agency.
"Obviously, there's a lot of things that are unexpected that happened in this job. Drew being one of them, that retirement was a pop-up on us. I want to respect him and his decision. The why, the reasons why and all that, I'll let him answer those things at his time. But I'm proud of our organization for adapting and adjusting, which allowed us to bring in Bradbury here to help us solidify our offensive line to continue to play."
While Dalman's loss is certainly a big one, especially after head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams talked about his importance in the offense, the Bears feel confident that Bradbury can step up and have a similar impact. It also wouldn't be a surprise to see Chicago look to the 2026 NFL Draft to develop their center of the future.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears GM Ryan Poles sounds off on Drew Dalman's retirement