The New England Patriots were able to go four win team to a Super Bowl participant last season and a lot of it had to do with their investment on the offensive line. Part of those investments included signing center Garrett Bradbury, and the former Minnesota Viking had one of the best years of his career while working in tandem with Drake Maye.
Bradbury’s stint in New England was solid, but it was short-lived. The Patriots decided to trade Bradbury to the Chicago Bears this offseason and while the move clears the way for Jared Wilson to start next year, it may set Bradbury up to fail as he returns to the NFC North.
Former Patriots C Garrett Bradbury Likely to Disappoint After Trade to Bears
Bradbury is familiar with the Bears after battling against them for several years as a member of the Vikings. A first-round pick (18th overall) in the 2019 draft, Bradbury has been a solid overall center thanks to his athleticism and mental feel for the game, but the biggest weakness has been his performance in pass protection.
Pro Football Focus has charted Bradbury with a 4.8% pressure rate and 22 sacks allowed on 4,154 pass-blocking snaps during his seven-year career and many of the issues came in the “Black and Blue Division.” Most of Bradbury’s struggles came in the first three seasons of his career, when he posted pass-blocking grades of 41.4, 38.8 and 43.7 but while he’s corrected the problem, he still has moments where he is overwhelmed by bigger, stronger defensive tackles.
Bradbury was able to buck that trend with the best pass-blocking grade of his career at 64.1 last season. He also was able to cut his pressures (29) and allow two sacks on 760 snaps but it could also be an outlier based on his play throughout the rest of his career.
It’s hard to remember that Bradbury led all centers with 38 pressures in 2024 and his six penalties ranked 12th among that group. His 50.3 pass-blocking grade was the fifth-lowest among 43 qualifiers and helped contribute to his release by the Vikings in the spring of 2025.
After a solid year in New England, Bradbury will look to build on that performance, but he’ll have big shoes to fill. Drew Dalman ranked eighth among qualifiers with a 72.6 overall grade last season and was also strong in pass-protection, allowing 31 pressures but just one sack in 744 pass-blocking snaps. Dalman’s surprising decision to retire after last season facilitated the decision to trade for Bradbury, but he may not be good enough to replace Dalman without a dropoff.
The Bears have given Bradbury plenty of help with Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson at the guard spot and Darnell Wright has been a solid player at right tackle. But with left tackle also wide-open after Ozzy Trapilo’s torn patellar tendon in the playoffs, it could be two weaknesses that could make the Bears regress from where they were a season ago.
That’s not a concern for the Patriots, who are looking to build on last season’s success. But they were wise enough to realize that Bradbury’s season may have been an outlier and made the move to trade him to Chicago.