If you read many offseason articles involving the Chicago Bears you probably were familiar with the name Bradley Bozeman. Bozeman was a free agent center from the Baltimore Ravens, and considering the Bears needed a center in the worst way, many saw Bozeman as the best fit in Chicago.
Fans saw Ryan Jensen leave Baltimore and breakout in Tampa Bay, and thought that Bozeman could be in for the same rise. However, the Chicago Bears went in a completely different direction, signing Lucas Patrick from the Green Bay Packers.
Had Bozeman chosen a better team or more money, it would have been one thing. However, Bozeman announced that he signed a one-year contract worth $2.8M.
Bradley Bozeman one-year Panthers deal: $2.8M, $1M signing bonus, $1.035M base salary, up to $500K per games active roster bonus, $265K workout bonus
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 20, 2022
Lucas Patrick signed a two-year deal worth $8M. This tells us that not only did the Chicago Bears prefer Patrick, but they also did not view it as particularly close. They clearly had little to no interest in Bradley Bozeman.
So, what caused fans to be so high on Bradley Bozeman, while the rest of the NFL, including the Chicago Bears, did not pay him?
Bradley Bozeman is not a scheme fit for Chicago Bears
The most obvious reason that Bradley Bozeman is not with the Chicago Bears is that he does not fit their scheme. The Bears are moving to a zone heavy scheme, similar to what Green Bay ran last year.
With that in mind, Patrick knows the protections and is an obvious scheme fit.
While Lucas Patrick was zone blocking on 65% of his snaps last season, Bozeman was zone-blocking just 22% of the time. That is a drastic difference and a much bigger scheme divergence than Bilal Nichols playing in a 4-3.
The Bears wanted a cheap, young center and Bozeman would have fit, but he also would have come in and had to change his style, which may have made the signing more awkward than fans wanted.
Beyond that, while Bozeman started at center last year, he spent most of his career at guard otherwise. The Panthers lost Matt Paradis and you could assume that Carolina will try him at center, but at the same time, his contract shows that other teams were not sold on what he is yet either.
Perhaps his 2021 season was not as praised by NFL evaluators as the fans and media.
When it comes to Bradley Bozeman, it is surprising that Lucas Patrick nearly got twice as much when many thought Bozeman was the better player. Still, the scheme fit and the realization that the gap is probably not what fans think does make more sense.