{"id":754278,"date":"2026-02-15T17:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T17:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754278\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T17:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T17:43:14","slug":"chicago-bears-2026-roster-turnover-they-finally-took-center-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754278\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Bears 2026 Roster Turnover: They finally took center seriously!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.windycitygridiron.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Chicago Bears;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Chicago Bears<\/a>\u00a0finally addressed the center position last offseason, and they were rewarded with a representative being chosen for the Pro Bowl. However, the Bears will have some work to do at the position, as they need to determine who will be backing up.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the Bears\u2019 two current centers.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Drew Dalman \u2013 Signed through 2027 \u2013\u00a0The 27-year-old Dalman, who was also the only Bears player to play every snap on offense, made his first Pro Bowl in his first year as a Bear, and he also finished fourth in All-Pro voting at center, picking up the third most first-place votes (3).<\/p>\n<p>Back in December, quarterback Caleb Williams heaped praise on his offensive line, saying he collectively calls them The Avengers, and Dalman is The Hulk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHe\u2019s the brains and all of it, but when he gets out there on the field, he\u2019s strong as can be, fast, and the right guy for the job for us and my future, and our future here,\u201d Williams <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NicholasMoreano\/status\/2000993497524916675\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:said;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">said<\/a>. \u201cSo I\u2019m excited for that, and I\u2019m happy that he\u2019s here with us and with me, and we\u2019re going to keep growing together, and we\u2019re going to keep finding ways to help each other out in this tenure that we have together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Bates \u2013 Free agent \u2013\u00a0Bates\u2019 versatility may have been valuable enough for him to stick around last season, but as 2025 wore on, he was clearly only an option as a backup center. Rookie Luke Newman and Jordan McFadden both played guard over Bates, as Bates only saw 82 snaps on special teams.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>2026 OUTLOOK \u2013\u00a0The Bears will need to find a backup if they don\u2019t bring Bates back, but if Ben Johnson was content with Bates backing up Dalman last year, then I see no reason they wouldn\u2019t make him an offer. He just turned 28, and if he\u2019s over the injury issues that plagued him in 2024 \u2014 he was healthy all last season \u2014 then re-sign him.<\/p>\n<p>Former Bear and Orland Park, Illinois native Dan Feeney is a free agent and should be relatively inexpensive if Bates isn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">They may draft a guy with center\/guard versatility on day three, but Newman received some center reps in the offseason, and that may continue this year.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you think the Bears will bring in to back up Dalman?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Chicago Bears\u00a0finally addressed the center position last offseason, and they were rewarded with a representative being chosen for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,1036,5132,26713,692,391,2493,14601,2551,7,42679,3642,6,4912,26279],"class_list":["post-754278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-bears","tag-caleb-williams","tag-center","tag-center-position","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicagobears","tag-dan-feeney","tag-drew-dalman","tag-football","tag-jordan-mcfadden","tag-luke-newman","tag-nfl","tag-pro-bowl","tag-ryan-bates"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116075888936173694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754278","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=754278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}