{"id":222562,"date":"2025-03-13T17:38:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T21:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=222562"},"modified":"2025-03-13T17:41:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T21:41:06","slug":"ben-johnson-heroic-statement-bears-drew-dalman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/03\/13\/ben-johnson-heroic-statement-bears-drew-dalman\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears HC Ben Johnson Drops Heroic Statement on Drew Dalman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Bears held a press conference to unveil two major free-agent additions, former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/colts\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Colts<\/a> edge rusher Dayo Odeyingbo and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/falcons\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Falcons<\/a> center Drew Dalman. Above all, addressing the lack of stability at center has been a pressing issue for what seems like forever in Chicago. Now that the Bears finally decided to shore up the position by signing Dalman to a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/03\/10\/drew-dalman-signs-contract-chicago-bears\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">three-year, $42 million deal,<\/a> Ben Johnson dropped a heroic statement on the Bears new starting center.<\/p>\n<h2>Ben Johnson Drops Heroic Statement on Bears&#8217; Center Drew Dalman<\/h2>\n<h3>&#8220;He\u2019s Going to Be the Quarterback of Our Offensive Line&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>When asked about Drew Dalman, Ben Johnson emphasized his role as the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/adamjahns\/status\/1900277864274288837\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;quarterback of the offensive line,&#8221;<\/a> stating that he plans to put more responsibility on Dalman than he&#8217;s had in the past.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Leading the way. \ud83e\udee1 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LqwxzZmSk4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LqwxzZmSk4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CHGO Bears (@CHGO_Bears) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CHGO_Bears\/status\/1900280459780907445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>If there&#8217;s one player who can handle it, it&#8217;s Dalman. A Stanford graduate, he has been praised for his intelligence and leadership. Joining Dalman in Chicago, longtime teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/03\/11\/next-steps-for-bears-after-blockbuster-day-in-free-agency\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Grady Jarrett<\/a> spoke highly of his abilities:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Working against him in Atlanta, he&#8217;s so smart.&#8221; <\/em>Jarrett also highlighted <a href=\"https:\/\/bearswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/bears\/2025\/03\/13\/grady-jarrett-credits-drew-dalmans-growth-and-intelligence\/82337859007\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalman&#8217;s ability to eject a three-technique<\/a> as one of his strong suits.\u00a0<em>&#8220;His growth; the dude&#8217;s a beast, man. I&#8217;m happy that he&#8217;s gonna be here, and I think he&#8217;s going to bring a lot to this team.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Bears desperately need a guy like Dalman to come in and be a leader for the offense, and he&#8217;s no stranger to calling out protections either.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Drew Dalman calling out protections vs. Flores. He talks to both sides of the line before the ball is snapped <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/niKw0SRbfy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/niKw0SRbfy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bears Blog Boy (@TommyK_NFLDraft) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TommyK_NFLDraft\/status\/1899464155171602461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Bears GM Ryan Poles on Drew Dalman<\/h3>\n<p>It feels good knowing I wasn&#8217;t the only one believing <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/24\/why-the-bears-must-go-all-in-on-drew-dalman\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the Bears should go all-in for Drew Dalman.<\/a> When asked about him, Ryan Poles said\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/adamjahns\/status\/1900277015388840433\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;he was definitely someone who was at the very, very top of our list.&#8221;<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Both the free agent and draft class for centers were relatively weak. With the Bears desperately searching for an answer at the position, it felt like a no-brainer to be fully invested in making sure Dalman was a Bear once free agency started.<\/p>\n<p>Besides only playing nine games last season, Dalman was the 4th rated center by PFF and allowed the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NextGenStats\/status\/1899157755501609145\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fifth-lowest 1-on-1 pressure rate among centers last season.<\/a> If only playing nine games isn&#8217;t enough, since 2023 Dalman is <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PFF_Bears\/status\/1899180621928300599\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ranked 5th among all centers according to PFF with an 84.8 grade.<\/a> Now, with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/03\/05\/major-shake-up-bears-latest-trades-reveal-a-shift-in-team-philosophy\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson<\/a> by his side, the potential for this offensive line is sky-high.<\/p>\n<h3>Drew Dalman&#8217;s Mamba Mentality<\/h3>\n<p>Drew Dalman understands the challenges of transitioning to a new team and isn&#8217;t taking anything for granted.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I feel like my style\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CHGO_Bears\/status\/1900283372997423589\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I have to prove myself.<\/a> I&#8217;m entering the room as a stranger and I have to forge all of those relationships.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the right mindset to have. Despite what Dalman has been able to accomplish in his NFL career, going into a new environment takes time to mesh with the rest of the guys and figure out how you can become a leader. Fortunately, he&#8217;ll have Joe Thuney as a mentor. Dalman has already expressed his intent to learn as much as possible from the four-time Super Bowl champion, even joking that he plans to be <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ScottBairNFL\/status\/1900280486393455077\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em data-start=\"2812\" data-end=\"2824\">&#8220;annoying&#8221;<\/em><\/a> with his questions.<\/p>\n<p>It feels like the Bears are assembling an &#8220;Avengers-level&#8221; offensive line. Time to see how they perform next season blocking for Caleb Williams, a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WatchMarquee\/status\/1900282966468943996\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">huge\u00a0reason why Dalman chose to sign with the Bears.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: David Banks &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bears HC Ben Johnson didn&#8217;t hold back his praise for Drew Dalman, expressing confidence in his ability with a heroic statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4976,"featured_media":222600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,36],"tags":[33071,9585,7403,8123,2058,3875],"class_list":["post-222562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bears","category-nfl-news","tag-2025-nfl-free-agency","tag-ben-johnson","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-drew-dalman","tag-grady-jarrett","tag-joe-thuney"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222562"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222623,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222562\/revisions\/222623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}