\n The Bears signed center Drew Dalman to a three-year contract in the offseason.
\n AP\n <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at No. 9 on the list of most important Bears players heading into the 2025 season. Check back the next two weeks to see the rest of the list.<\/p>\n
No. 9 Drew Dalman<\/p>\n
Position: Center<\/p>\n
Experience: Fifth season<\/p>\n
Looking back: The Bears have struggled to find a consistent starter at center since Bears general manager Ryan Poles took over in 2022. Although Coleman Shelton won the center starting job last season and played well at times, inconsistency led to troubles for then-rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.<\/p>\n
Poles responded by signing the top center available in free agency this offseason, Drew Dalman. Poles brought in Dalman on a three-year contract for $42 million. He also traded for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson to replace three starters from last year\u2019s offensive line.<\/p>\n
Dalman brings valuable experience after playing in 57 games over four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. Pro Football Focus rated Dalman as the fourth-best center in the league last year with a 78.8 total score. He was ranked the fifth-best run-blocking center last season with a 79.8 and the 21st pass-blocking center with a score of 66.6<\/p>\n
Dalman was also disciplined in his play. He was called for three penalties in nine games last season and allowed two sacks. Shelton committed four and allowed three, respectively, last year for the Bears in 17 games.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead: There will be a lot of storylines to watch this season. None will be bigger than how Williams looks under Johnson in his second NFL season.<\/p>\n
Dalman will play a major role in Williams\u2019 development and success as his center. Not only has Dalman proved his ability to protect and be disciplined, but he\u2019s also shown his intelligence at the line of scrimmage and helped quarterbacks see things they might miss.<\/p>\n
Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett had a firsthand view of Dalman\u2019s skill and growth during his time with the Falcons. He voiced how important Dalman will be to the Bears\u2019 success when he met with reporters during the spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking against him in Atlanta, he was so smart, he had some great guys working with him as well,\u201d Jarrett said. \u201cBut to see his growth as a rookie to where he is now, I mean, dude\u2019s a beast, man. I\u2019m happy that he\u2019s going to be here and I think he\u2019s going to bring a lot to this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams could take a major step with solid production from the interior of his offensive line. Dalman will play a major and important role in making sure Williams takes that step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bears signed center Drew Dalman to a three-year contract in the offseason. AP Here\u2019s a look at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,769,7,6,767,768,9,770],"class_list":{"0":"post-191860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicagobears","12":"tag-content-providers","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pro-sports","16":"tag-shaw-local","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-leagues"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114819698002226569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}