Sometimes history provides the best answer.
The Bears are in a situation where they need a center to complete the offensive line picture after trading for guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney but their salary cap cash supply has dwindled by about 40% from what it had been before the trades and a few contracts for their own free agents.
This would be fine if they didn't need a few defensive linemen, a running back and a few other assorted positions.
One of their best all-time centers suggested an answer from his own past and it wouldn't necessarily mean they must sign the top free agent center, Drew Dalman. Although it could work by signing him, too.
Former Bears center Olin Kreutz recalled his own start while speaking with Mark Grote and David Haugh on AM-670, WSCR.
"I would like to see them get a young center and maybe also bring in a veteran center like when the Bears drafted me and I sat behind Casey Wiegmann for a year and learned and learned a lot from Casey Wiegmann about how to be a pro, how to study my (play)book. I sat behind himn and really needed that year to learn."
The Bears had a wealth of young centers then. Wiegmann left as a free agent, went on to play 15 years, including 3 1/2 years with the Bears, nine with Kansas City, two with Denver and half a season with the Jets. Kreutz watched him as a rookie in 1999, took over as starter in 1999, then was out nine games in 2000 with a knee injury while Wiegmann started. Then Wiegmann left as a free agent for the 2001 season.
Kruetz pointed out an example of something similar with the world champion Eagles.
"I talked about Cam Jurgens, he just did that in Philadelphia, right?" Kreutz told Grote and Haugh. "The Eagles just did that with him. He sat in behind Jason Kelce for a year, played him at right guard and then he started and they won the Super Bowl with him at center."
The opportunity for something like this exists even with a free agent center crop that is short on top-end talent and a draft crop said by draft analysts to have the same issue.
The Bears could draft a guard like Grey Zabel from North Dakota State, who is projected as a possible center, and convert him over a year or two after signing a lower-cost free agent center like Josh Myers or Evan Brown. Brown is a former Lions center/guard who played under Ben Johnson.
Georgia's Jared Wilson, Texas' Jake Majors, USC's Jonah Monheim and Ohio State's Seth McLaughlin are the other top draft centers. Wilson enjoyed a spectacular combine the fastest offensive line 40-yard time of 4.84 seconds.
Even if the Bears signed Dalman, who could be a $13 million to $14 million a year free agent by NFL Network assessment, a young center could be added behind him for depth.
Whatever they do, the Bears can't go wrong by drafting and signing offensive linemen to help their depth, says Kreutz.
"So much uncertainty in this offensive line room, I don't know if you can ever say this year 'oh that's enough, were good to go, here we go, get them (out) on the field," Kreutz told Grote and Haugh.
