The Bears made a concerted effort to address their center position this offseason, and according to Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune, they’re not done yet. 
After seeing their starting center, Drew Dalman, retire at the age of 27, the Bears started their offseason aggressive, getting in the race to sign the top free agent center, Tyler Linderbaum, out of Baltimore. When the price of that transaction grew beyond their sights, Chicago quickly moved on to Plan B: trading for Patriots center Garrett Bradbury.
Bradbury will fill the role well, but he only has one year remaining on his current contract. Because of this, Biggs believes the Bears could be looking to add once more to the center spot, this time through the 2026 NFL Draft. Two weeks ago, Biggs reported that the Bears had sent a large contingent to the pro day at Kansas State. Per Biggs, the team’s focus was on the Wildcats’ center, Sam Hecht.
Hecht is widely viewed as one of the top center prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft, and with the rate that centers usually go in the draft, there’s a chance Chicago could end up getting Hecht with any of their four draft picks in the first two days, anywhere from No. 25 overall to No. 89. With Bradbury already locked in for the year, this would allow Hecht to sit and develop for a year or get some practice at the other interior positions to develop some versatility until taking over the center job in 2027.
The Bears saw their young quarterback, Caleb Williams, take a big step forward in Year 2 and are now looking to build around him, starting with the man snapping him the ball. Bradbury works for the day, but Chicago may have tomorrow in sight as it continues to evaluate the draft prospects at his position.
I’m surprised that haven’t at least re signed Ricky Stromberg to at least have another body on the roster, Even if they do get Hecht or somebody else in the draft. I know they said Newman can probably play C too but I haven’t seen him do it yet. They need some other options there. Still say trading down 25 should be in play here. Maybe others too. They need more picks. With no 5th or 6th they need those picks back because that’s where such guys can be found. Trading Kmet could be an option too. Not sure if Amegedjie is worth a late round flier but add one of their 7ths and it might be worth a 6th. Still some moves that can be made but probably not until draft day itself.
I wish Bears fans would stop pushing for a Kmet trade. He can deliver in the clutch. Furthermore, if he’s traded and Loveland gets injured the TE position becomes as useless as if Mercedes Lewis were still on the roster.
With the Bears playing a lot of 12 and 13 personal, and trading DJ Moore, the Bears need receivers and trading Kmet would eliminate offensive personal/receiver options. He’s not being traded as the media speculated…and “insider” Uncle Mike
You people do realize that the Bears are at the Cap and have to clear 10 million dollars or so just to sign their draft picks right? And that their are other TE’s in the world who can do that cheaper than 11 million dollars? I like Kmet too but if Poles can kill 2 birds with 1 stone then why wouldn’t he do it? Until I hear of a bunch of contract changes that make sense still gonna assume the fastest way is best way. Besides if that was gonna happen we would have heard about it by now. League year started already.
Clearing “$10M” is easy. They don’t need to trade anybody to do that. Certain not Kmet. He’s far to important to the system Johnson runs.
Just some fun facts for everyone. Every team takes 90 players to camp, Just a fact. Bears have 68 players under contract so they need to sign 22 more not to mention the jockeying that goes around back and forth. Bears 51st player makes a little over 1 million a year so just about all their draft picks will raise the Cap. Of course they could renegotiate Kmet too but doesn’t really solve the whole problem. Not to mention they’re talking about trading down 25 and getting more picks which I’m totally down with but that adds more money to the Cap. So all you Maxx Crosby dreamers out there can come back to reality or keep up your dreams that you’re Cap stretched team can afford to pay their now B/U TE 11 million bucks. The good news is that after this year they can walk away from a bunch of money and next year they’ll be fine again. Most of the bad paper they signed last year was 3 year deals that only had 2 guaranteed with this being year 2. Just facts for the dreamers out there.
Poles and Co have a month to figure it out. If they really wanted Maxx, they could easily do it by restructures/trades etc. Might see a little regression this year but like you said, a lot of money coming off the books next year so they’ll be fine.
You do realize that if you push that money down the line that the money you would have coming off next year probably won’t be anymore? Just curious as to if you know how that REALLY works? My solution is fast, clean, Adds more picks and doesn’t poison future money. Your way turns the Bears into the New Orleans Saints for years and you keep scrambling every year to keep up with the dumb things you did last year. And suppose you did get Maxx. With Maxx at 30, Sweat at 25, Odeyingbo at 20 you investing 75 million in Edge rushers that really don’t up the Ante much? You really need to think this through. Just draft one with one of the first 3 picks and be done with it. 30 million for a guy who now has a balky knee is a big risk. Plus I don’t know why Sweat plays Left DE when your best pass rusher usually plays on the right side which is usually the weak side.
Teams manipulate the cap all the time. $10 mil $15 mil is nothing in NFL terms especially for teams with a window for winning. As Bear fans were just not use to it because lets face it we haven’t had many windows of success. But if you want to have a team full of good to great players its something thats going to have to happen.
The second TE in Johnson’s system doesn’t need to carry an $11.6M cap hit next season.
Exactly.
Apparently you and Ben Johnson arent on the same page then because if Ben didnt value what Kmet did at the cost of other things Kmet would be gone.
There’s still a great chance Kmet won’t be on this roster in September.
Stromberg simply did not fit Ben Johnson’s offense. Stromberg was brought over in 2024 (Eberfailure era) after he was cut/ injury settlement by Washington. The 3rd Rounder is now considered a bust. He’s not a fit for the Zone-Blocking the Bears utilize. It’s a scheme that requires agile centers who can move efficiently in the run game. Stromberg is too rigid and lacks gap quickness.
If the goal of the 25th picks is to improve the DL then your going to want to pick in the 1st rnd to have the 5th year option. Also, I can’t see the Bears not wanting a pick at least in the top 10 picks of the 2nd rnd? What teams in that range in the 2nd round would want to trade up and why? There probably wont be a QB of interest and you risk having more DL taken off the board.
CChicago Bears?