Bears' glaring roster holes are already impacting how Ryan Poles can upgrade team

The Chicago Bears entered the 2026 offseason with holes to fill on their entire roster.

Then, the week before the new league year, starting center Drew Dalman suddenly retired at 27 years old, creating another massive position to address.

Bears' long week of moves and missed opportunities at position of needs

General manager Ryan Poles didn’t take long to find his Dalman replacement, sending a 2027 fifth-round draft pick to the New England Patriots for veteran Garrett Bradbury. The former No. 18 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft started 17 games for the Patriots on the way to a Super Bowl run. He gave up zero sacks, no penalties, and 20 total quarterback pressures.

Bradbury is known for his intellect and movement skills, which should translate in the Bears’ outside zone running scheme, and as someone who will struggle against bigger defensive tackles. The quick snapshot is similar to what Dalman did in his one season in Chicago.

Poles wouldn’t have made this move without coach Ben Johnson's sign of approval, so that has to mean something.

Many people thought, though, the Bears would be in on Baltimore’s Tyler Linderbaum, who is set to reset the market at the center position. Although he would have been an upgrade at the position over Dalman and Bradbury, the holes on this Bears’ roster are starting to impact what Poles can and can’t do.

Another example of that just happened.

The Baltimore Ravens sent a 2026 and 2027 first-round draft pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for Maxx Crosby. The Bears clearly needed to address their pass rush, and Crosby would have been a great fit in Dennis Allen’s defense, but that price was just too high to improve one position.

Here are the positions on the Bears’ roster that will realistically need retooling.

Left tackle
Defensive End
Defensive Tackle
The Linebackers
Safeties (Strong and Free)
Wide Receiver No. 3
Outside Cornerback

Then there is the depth across the entire roster, and adding players who make up a majority of special teams.

Just because the Bears have their roster needs, that doesn’t mean Poles can’t be aggressive in free agency. He must be calculated, though. According to OverTheCap, the Bears have roughly $26.6 million in cap space, and more can be created by converting base salaries into signing bonuses.

There is room to work with, but Poles has to weigh the short-term gains versus the long-term ramifications with every move he makes as the team approaches the new league year next week.