The Chicago Bears' Garrett Bradbury may find himself on the outside looking in at some point within the team's center rotation, even though he was just acquired this offseason from the New England Patriots as a potential veteran fill-in starter.
The Athletic's Kevin Fishbain believes that not only will second-round pick Logan Jones threaten Bradbury's starting spot, but undrafted free agent Jaren Kump is his No. 2-ranked Bears UDFA and could be a potential threat to be Jones' primary backup.
"Kump is bigger than Garrett Bradbury and Jones and will likely cross-train, as all the linemen do," Fishbain prefaced before asking, "If Jones is set to be the starter in 2027, could Kump emerge and wind up being his backup?"
With Bradbury's recent contract renegotiation, there may be a level of trust in him keeping a roster spot all year, since he now has more guaranteed money coming his way, with performance incentives being converted to guarantees. What if his role is solely as a depth piece, though?
Or, what if trying to build value by the trade deadline before sending him off for assets is the plan? Jones and Kump could make that a reality if the former could handle snaps in volume and the latter could handle snaps at all.
Logan Jones has intricate offense to learn in short order to become the starter
Bradbury is the presumptive favorite to win the starting job in Week 1 because he's the only one of the bunch with NFL experience, and Ben Johnson's offense is fairly intricate. If Jones is going to threaten Bradbury's starting chances, he'll have to be a quick learner.
Granted, Tim Lester's Iowa Hawkeyes offense was fairly intricate in its own right. Johnson's offense's complexities mostly bear out in his myriad run schemes, though. Luckily, Jones' run-block grade of 73.1 was a top-25 number nationally last season, and it came facing Big Ten defenses.
We won't know for a few months who's the best in the room in front of Caleb Williams. Center is one of Chicago's most important position battles this spring, mainly because there's not a single sure thing. It's scary, but the potential in the room is high.
The Bears' fanbase would likely be happiest if Jones were able to win the starting job, but Bradbury was still good enough to be in the mix for snaps. We'll see who emerges in their debut summers in the Windy City.
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