Patriots make pre-free agency trade with Bears
The Pats are ushering in a new era at the center position after their latest trade, which comes just before the start of free agency.
The New England Patriots are signaling a new era at the center position.
As first reported by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network Friday night, the Patriots are sending veteran center Garrett Bradbury to the Chicago Bears. Adam Schefter later reported that the Pats are getting a 2027 fifth-round pick back in the trade, which can't be made official until the start of the new league year next Wednesday.
Bradbury departs the Patriots after just one season, but a solid one, starting all 17 games and all four playoff games through the Super Bowl. Bradbury finished second behind only right guard Mike Onwenu for the most offensive snaps on the team with 1,072, or just under 98%. Of 31 qualifying centers, Bradbury finished tied for 14th with a 98.3% pass-block efficiency rate in the regular season (via Pro Football Focus), which individually was the best mark of his career.
The Patriots originally signed Bradbury to a two-year deal with $3.8 million guaranteed, but ended up paying him more than $6M in the 2025 season. They had an out in his contract for 2026 that left them with zero dead cap dollars, per Spotrac, which made this an easy decision from a financial standpoint.
However, making it an even easier decision was the emergence of Jared Wilson, who is now likely to slide into his natural position. Widely considered the best center prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft, Wilson went to the Patriots in the third round at 95th overall, and made an unexpected rise to the starting left guard role. Wilson ended up playing and starting 13 games in that spot.
While the year did come with growing pains -- Wilson finished tied for 50th out of 59 qualifying guards with 96.5% pass-block efficiency -- he only played left guard out of necessity, and now gets to take over at the position he played in college and was ostensibly drafted to play in the first place.
Meanwhile, the Patriots now have a glaring need for a left guard, with Ben Brown projected as the starter as of this writing. It would behoove them to bring in a veteran to park between Campbell and Wilson, in lieu of committing to yet another rookie at that spot in 2026. Notable free-agent left guards to watch include David Edwards, Zion Johnson, and Joel Bitonio.
