{"id":796791,"date":"2026-03-06T18:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T18:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/796791\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T18:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T18:57:19","slug":"two-former-hawkeyes-the-chicago-bears-must-pursue-after-drew-dalmans-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/796791\/","title":{"rendered":"Two former Hawkeyes the Chicago Bears must pursue after Drew Dalman’s retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL world was shocked by Pro Bowl center Drew Dalman’s sudden retirement<\/a>, leaving the Chicago Bears scrambling.<\/p>\n

The Bears experienced one of their best season in years last season in their first season under Ben Johnson, and the re-tooled offensive line was a key component of that. <\/p>\n

Star quarterback Caleb Johnson took a big leap in his sophomore season, and the running game rushed for 144.5 yards per game<\/a>, the third-highest in the NFL last season.<\/p>\n

It is still unknown why Dalman ultimately decided to hang it up at age 27, leaving $28 million on the table, but it has left the Bears in a tight spot.<\/p>\n

The Bears aren’t in panic mode yet, but two former Hawkeyes could easily fill the newly-created vacancy at the center position.<\/p>\n

The case for the Bears to sign free agent Tyler Linderbaum<\/p>\n

The Baltimore Ravens made the questionable decision to not sign three-time Pro Bowler Tyler Linderbaum<\/a> to a contract extension, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.<\/p>\n

Linderbaum is widely considered to be the top free-agent center on the free-agent market, and the Bears will have to open up the checkbook to lure Linderbaum to the Windy City.<\/p>\n

Linderbaum will be in high demand this offseason, but if the Bears want to continue their recent success on offense, they must sign him.<\/p>\n

The Ravens ranked just ahead of the Bears in rushing yards per game last season, and it is well-documented that Ben Johnson loves to run the ball.<\/p>\n

The case for the Bears to draft Logan Jones in the upcoming NFL Draft<\/p>\n

Logan Jones and the Iowa offensive line earned the Joe Moore Award last season, and he took home the Rimington Trophy<\/a>, given to the best center in college football.<\/p>\n

The Bears did acquire a second-round pick after recently trading wide receiver DJ Moore<\/a>, but they need more help on the defensive side of the ball, especially at edge, defensive line, and linebacker.<\/p>\n

If the Bears don’t end up trading for Maxx Croby, they could easily focus on defense with their first and two second-round picks, and scoop Jones up in the third round.<\/p>\n

Jones would definitely be the cheaper of the two options and would give the Bears the financial flexibility to address other areas.<\/p>\n

He also gives them a premier zone-blocking center who proved his athletic abilities at the Combine.<\/p>\n

Regardless if the Bears open the checkbook for Linderbaum or draft Jones, the Bears should heavily pursue these two former Hawkeye greats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL world was shocked by Pro Bowl center Drew Dalman’s sudden retirement, leaving the Chicago Bears scrambling.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-796791","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-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116183763748012090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796791","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=796791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}