Bears Pro Bowl Center Drew Dalman Shockingly Retires at 27, Leaving Massive Hole on Offensive Line

Nobody saw this coming.

Bears Pro Bowl center Drew Dalman has informed the team that he is retiring from the NFL at the age of 27, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The decision comes just one year into a three-year, $42 million contract that Dalman signed with Chicago last March—and after what was arguably the best season of his five-year career.

No reason for the retirement has been publicly disclosed. Dalman has not released a statement, and the Bears have not commented.

What Dalman Meant to This Team

Dalman was one of the most important signings of the Bears' 2025 offseason overhaul. Brought in alongside Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, he was the centerpiece—literally—of an interior offensive line rebuild that transformed Chicago's offense overnight. The Bears went from allowing 68 sacks in 2024 to just 24 in 2025. They went from 4.0 sacks per game to 1.5. That improvement was the foundation of everything Ben Johnson's offense accomplished last season.

Dalman started all 17 games and played 1,154 offensive snaps—the most of any center in the NFL. Pro Football Focus graded him as the seventh-best center in football with a 77.5 overall mark, and he ranked eighth in ESPN's pass block win rate. He allowed just one sack and 21 pressures all season. He earned his first career Pro Bowl selection and was named the Bears' Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award winner. He was, by every measure, the anchor of the offensive line that helped the Bears win the NFC North and make the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

And now he's gone.

The Offseason Just Got a Lot Harder

This retirement doesn't just create a hole at center. It fundamentally changes the Bears' offseason priorities. As we've been detailing in our ongoing offseason needs series, Ryan Poles was already navigating a tight cap situation with significant needs at safety, defensive tackle, and edge rusher. The offensive line was supposed to be the one thing he didn't have to worry about.

Now Chicago has two major offensive line vacancies heading into free agency. Left tackle Ozzy Trapilo ruptured his patellar tendon in the Divisional Round loss to the Rams and is expected to miss most of the 2026 season. Add center to the list, and the offensive line that was one of the best in football last year suddenly has two gaping holes protecting Caleb Williams.

There may already be a Plan B in motion. Albert Breer of MMQB reported that the Bears have been in contact with Tyler Linderbaum, the three-time Pro Bowl center set to hit free agency out of Baltimore. That interest makes a whole lot more sense now. Linderbaum would be the best center available this offseason, and if the Bears knew this retirement was coming, it would explain why they were already doing their homework.

A Football Family

Dalman comes from NFL bloodlines. His father, Chris Dalman, was an offensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers from 1993 to 2000, winning Super Bowl XXIX. Like his son, Chris played college ball at Stanford. He later served as an assistant offensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons—the same franchise that drafted Drew in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Drew spent four seasons in Atlanta before signing with Chicago. He started 22 of 25 games at Stanford, where he didn't allow a single pressure as a senior in 2020. He was, from college through the pros, one of the most technically sound centers in football. Walking away at 27, coming off a Pro Bowl season with two years and tens of millions of dollars left on his contract, is as stunning a retirement as the NFL has seen since Andrew Luck stepped away from Indianapolis in 2019. Luck, coincidentally, also went to Stanford.

Whatever Dalman's reasons, we wish him nothing but the best. But the Bears now have a significant problem to solve—and the clock is ticking with free agency opening March 11.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.