During the 2024 NFL season, general manager Ryan Poles already narrowed his focus on who could potentially be the next Chicago Bears’ center.
With the help of the team’s pro staff putting together a free-agent board, the Bears identified Atlanta’s Drew Dalman as a potential target.
“I often throughout the season kind of take a peek at it (free agent board) as I forecast forward,” Poles said. “His name popped up. I put tape on. And he was definitely who was at the very, very top of our list. We knew how important that was going to be.”
Fast forward to March 10, during the NFL’s legal tampering period, and the Bears took action with their aggressive approach in free agency and signed Dalman to a three-year, $42 million deal with $28 million guaranteed.
“Again, what makes you even more convicted and allows us to be aggressive in going and getting a player in free agency is when we have alignment,” Poles said. “So having Ben (Johnson) and Kyle (DeVan) and Coach (Dan Roushar) lined up with a vision and a fit and a role, we felt really good about being aggressive to get Drew here.”
The Falcons drafted Dalman in the fourth round out of Stanford in 2021. After playing just 68 offensive snaps in rookie season, Dalman became the full-time starter at center. According to Pro Football Focus, Dalman has given up just four sacks, 12 quarterback hits, and 54 quarterback hurries in 2,605 snaps.
Dalman was limited to just nine games last season due to an ankle injury, but according to Next Gen Stats, he allowed the fifth-lowest 1-on-1 pressure rate among centers (4.0%, min. 200 pass blocks) and he faced 1-on-1 situations on 45.4% of pass blocking snaps – second-highest among centers.
When Ben Johnson was asked about a common theme the team wanted in their offensive linemen, the Bears’ head coach named four traits: tough, gritty, dirty, and smart. One of those characteristics became apparent to Johnson when he watched Dalman’s tape.
“I talked about intelligence,” Johnson said. “And I think at that spot, that's critical. He is going to be the quarterback of our offensive line. He'll be setting the protections in the run game for us, something he has done in the past. And I think we can put even more on his plate than what he has been exposed to previously. So I'm excited about that. He is still learning. He's still growing as a player. So he has not hit his ceiling yet either. He has already asked me several times 'What did you see on tape that I can get better at?' That's the type of person we're getting.
He just says, 'The next step in his growth.' And I think that's going to translate to the rest of the room as well. We have some young talented players. I said to him earlier today you usually play with 8 or 9 guys over the course of a season. So it's not just the starting group that needs to be jelled. But we have some depth players and some young guys who may or may not be in the building right now that we'll be counting on and he's going to help spearhead that charge in terms of getting everybody ready to play on Sunday.”
Johnson is setting the standard of what he expects from his center. The former Lions' offensive coordinator had one of the best in the game in Frank Ragnow – the former first-round pick who has been a four-time Pro Bowler and three-time second-team All-Pro.
Dalman admitted he can’t compare himself to a guy of Ragnow’s status right now, but he plans to watch tape of him and “take things from him because he’s done an incredible job.”
Although Dalman feels like he isn’t ready to compare himself to Ragnow, the 26-year-old Bears’ center is making more money on average than him ($14 million compared to Ragnow’s $13.5 million) and is currently the second-highest-paid center in the NFL.
So, Dalman will have something to prove not only to himself but the Bears, who gave him his current contract. It will start with Dalman establishing chemistry with his new teammates and newly acquired interior offensive linemen Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson.
Johnson made it clear that the beginning part of establishing the O-line in his offense “shouldn’t be easy” and “it’s going to take a lot of work” as the group learns and grows together.
Dalman is ready to tackle those challenges that lie ahead for him and his teammates.
“It’s exciting,” Dalman said. “I feel like it’s reality. So acknowledging that is awesome. Just having someone who embraces challenges, and that’s what the NFL is all about, is really exciting. It makes us feel like we’re going to approach everything head on and it’s good to fail and good to be aggressive and all those things. Because when you're working at your fringe, that's when you're gonna improve the most. Feeling that from the top down is exciting.”
