Source: Patriots trading center Bradbury to Bears

A busy week ahead of free agency continues for the Chicago Bears.

On Friday, the Bears agreed in principle to send a 2027 fifth-round pick to the New England Patriots for center Garrett Bradbury, a source told ESPN. The trade cannot be processed until the new league year begins Wednesday.

Three days after Drew Dalman's surprising retirement, the Bears have their new center and didn't need to break the bank to fill that void.

Bradbury, a 2019 first-round pick, spent the first six years of his career with the Minnesota Vikings before signing a two-year deal worth up to $12 million with New England in March 2025. The Bears will owe Bradbury $4.7 million on the final year of his contract.

He started all 17 regular-season games and all four playoff games in his lone season in New England. His veteran presence helped stabilize the offensive line, which started rookies in left tackle Will Campbell and left guard Jared Wilson.

Bradbury's 105 career starts provides stability to the Bears' offensive line, which lost 40% of its starters this offseason between Dalman's retirement and left tackle Ozzy Trapilo being expected to miss most of the offseason while recovering from a knee injury.

Dalman was placed on the reserve/retired list Friday while the Bears officially terminated the contract of linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, who was released Thursday. Along with wide receiver DJ Moore being traded to the Buffalo Bills, Chicago has created $44 million in cap space since Tuesday.

Bradbury's most productive seasons in the NFL came during his early years in Minnesota in the Vikings' zone scheme offense that featured a heavy dose of play-action and misdirection. Under Bears coach Ben Johnson, the Bears went under center 49% of the time in 2025 (fifth most) and ran play-action on 32% of dropbacks. Chicago boasted the sixth-highest explosive play rate (15.0%) in the NFL.

As for New England, Wilson, a 2025 third-round pick, is Bradbury's likely replacement. Wilson played center at Georgia but moved to left guard as part of the team's approach of playing its best five linemen regardless of position.

ESPN's Mike Reiss contributed to this report.