The pick is in.

The pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Chicago Bears select Logan Jones Center from Iowa.

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Kalshi, trade on anything. I'm Tini Tritza, and I'm joined now by Lauren Cox from Locked on Bears.

And Lauren, with the departure of Drew Dalman, but with the pickup of veteran Gary Bradbury,

the day after Dalman retired, did you expect that the Bears would still maybe look to secure

a center in the draft?

I thought they would take one at some point, but the 57th overall pick was a little bit of a surprise for me, especially just right before the draft, Bradbury met with the media and talked about how they're pushing him to really build that relationship with Caleb Williams, and they want that veteran center to work with the young quarterback. So I like the idea of drafting a center and developing him for a year on the bench.

But if I'm using the 57th overall pick here in the second round, that's somebody I would prefer to be more of a year one contributor. And it's a little bit harder of a path to playing time or he beats out the veteran that you just traded for and that guy sits on the bench all season. I like the fit. I like the player. But this exact pick in this exact spot, I have some questions about the value there. Yeah, I think that's a good point you make about where then is the direction for the bears because you would think with a Caleb Williams, one of the reasons that they brought in a Drew Dalman was because you wanted someone with more of that veteran presence, if you will. So you've got Bradbury, but then you go to the draft pick Jones. It kind of seems like, well, maybe there might be a competition there after all. Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with having a center competition there. But if you want to try and maximize that cohesion between the offensive linemen and then the quarterback, like you'd like to have that center and that line locked in as early as possible but all of a sudden this is a battle that's going to linger through training camp and are you a month before the season wondering who your week one center is going to be this doesn't feel like the ideal lineup but but at least Logan Jones in particular you know a four year starter in college he's 24 years old one of the older prospects in the draft So at least you feel like if he does start as a rookie, he's not just some kid out there. He's a lot closer to the age and statute of the players he's going to be going against. Indeed. And one of the things that really you like about him, not the guy that you're going to see getting flagged a lot for false starts, moves his feet pretty well. And he talked about the fact that he has sort of that veteran presence of his own being a four-year starter at center. What are some of the areas where you feel like maybe there are some developmental needs for Logan Jones? Yeah, I think there's always going to be some limitations from him from a size standpoint. Like he does not have particularly long arms. He's about 300 pounds and doesn't have a ton of room on that frame to grow. So there's going to be times when there's just a big hulking nose tackle on the other side who's going to be physically bigger and longer than him. I think the good news is that he holds the Iowa record with a 700 pound squat in their weight room. So it's not so much a strength issue as it is just a density issue. But as a smaller center, if you can just get lower an anchor, you can, in theory, try and make up for that. And I think, too, he doesn't have a lot of positional versatility. He spent his whole career at center. Well, actually, he started college as a defensive lineman, then moved O line, but never played guard or tackle. And you'd like to have your backup center with some at least positional versatility to say, hey, if a guard gets injured, could he fill in in a pinch? He just hasn't done that yet. So you'd like to see them kind of cross train him across positions until he takes over that starting job. And then, you know, no worries, just be that long-term center of the future.

Indeed. Thanks so much, Lauren. And for more on the Chicago Bears, subscribe to Locked on Bears wherever you get your podcasts.