A top center in the 2026 NFL Draft adds more fire to the speculations of joining the Bears after detailing his Pro Day experience
Sam Hecht isn’t hiding his feelings about potentially joining the Chicago Bears.
The biggest shock of the offseason for the Chicago Bears was the sudden retirement of 27-year-old Pro Bowl center Drew Dalman, one year into a three-year, $42 million deal he signed last free agency. After the sudden news, the Bears had to quickly pivot to find their new QB of the offensive line.
Instead of entering a bidding war on the open market for someone like Tyler Linderbaum or Cade Mays, the Bears made a trade with the New England Patriots to land Garrett Bradbury, an experienced starter that fits well in the offensive scheme at a low cost.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of things that are unexpected that happen in this job, Drew being one of them,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles explained. “That retirement was a pop-up on us. I want to respect him and his decision. The why, the reasons why and all that, I’ll let him answer those things at his time. But I’m proud of our organization for adapting and adjusting, which allowed us to bring in Bradbury here to help us solidify our offensive line to continue to play.”
It was a strategic pivot that allowed the Bears to allocate cap space toward bringing in other free agents last week. The only downside to the move is that Bradbury is 30-years-old and on the final year of his contract, which is why the Bears are also scoping out the incoming center class.
Kansas State center Sam Hecht details his Pro Day experience and working with Bears’ coaches
One of the first names connected to the Bears at the center position going into the 2026 NFL Draft next month was Kanas State’s Sam Hecht. According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears had a “large contingent” of scouts and coaches down at the Kansas State Pro Day last week to watch him, and it turns out they did more than watch.
“Their O-line coach and assistant O-line coach were the ones putting us through the O-line drills,” Hecht told Kay Adams on the Up & Adams Show. “It was great to meet them and really appreciated that relationship.”
Bears offensive line coach Dan Roushar and assistant offensive line coach Kyle DeVan have developed a strong reputation when it comes to developing offensive line talent and this isn’t something to gloss over. Getting to see Hecht up-close and in-person was intentional and shows there’s real interest from the staff in Hecht. And the interest is mutual when it comes to Hecht joining the Bears.
“Protecting a quarterback of that caliber, that’s super exciting for sure,” Hecht added. “The staff, the O-line coach, and assistant O-line coach were amazing. I feel like we grew a good relationship just through the short time that we had with each other.”
After all this smoke, it’s time to pencil Hecht in as a Day 2 target for the Bears next month. The question is whether or not the Bears would have to use a second or third-round pick to land him.