Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles was forced to address a void in the middle of their offensive line with the sudden retirement of Pro Bowler Drew Dalman, leading to a trade with the New England Patriots for Garrett Bradbury.
Bradbury is on a one-year contract and widely considered a stop-gap option, though.
With the 2026 NFL Draft in the rearview and second-round pick Logan Jones now in the fold, Bradbury has emerged as a speculative “logical trade target” for another club.
Bears’ Garrett Bradbury Could Draw Trade Interest
Bears Urged to Take Cautious Approach With Garrett Bradbury
Bradbury was a teammate of Bears left guard Joe Thuney in college. He began his NFL career as a former first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings. He is expected to be the starter for the Bears. However, the selection of Jones with a premium pick indicates that Chicago has different plans long-term.
The Athletic’s Mike Sando noted that Bradbury could be a “logical trade target” for the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore lost Pro Bowler Tyler Linderbaum to the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency.
Notably, the Bears were linked to Linderbaum, who received a record-setting contract.
“Garrett Bradbury, acquired by Chicago from New England this offseason, would be a logical trade target if the Bears like what they see from Jones, the center they drafted in the second round,” Sando wrote on May 1. “Bradbury played at NC State when current Ravens offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford coached the position for the Wolfpack.”
An unnamed NFL executive told Sando it “would not be a bad trade.” However, the exec added, “If I’m Chicago, I would not trade him until I know what I have with Logan Jones and know he is the guy.”
The Bears view Jones highly enough to make him the first center off the board in the draft. That was despite having traded for Bradbury to start less than 60 days before the draft.
Logan Jones a Prospect to Watch During Bears’ Offseason Program
Jones is an older prospect. He is also one who could be ready to step in–i.e., replace Bradbury–sooner rather than later.
That is, as long as he proves he can overcome his physical limitations at the NFL level.
“Jones is a four-year starter with the blend of intelligence, tenacity, quickness, and athleticism to overcome his shorter arms and less-than-adequate size,” The Ringer’s Todd McShay wrote in his pre-draft profile.
“Jones’s short arm length makes him an outlier, but he has the traits to overcome it and develop into a starter in a zone-heavy scheme.”
The Bears would be trading Bradbury to an incomplete data set if done before the preseason.
That means the Ravens could need to go through their entire offseason program before Bradbury becomes available to the highest bidder in a trade. And that assumes that he ever does. That is hardly ever guaranteed, but especially so when the other option is a rookie.
Leave a Reply