The first two days of the new league year were eventful and productive for the Bears, who expeditiously bolstered their offensive and defensive lines.
On Wednesday, they added three Pro Bowl starters in guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. On Thursday, they signed top free-agent center Drew Dalman and defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo.
General manager Ryan Poles, coach Ben Johnson and the five new players all spoke to the media at Halas Hall. Here are nine takeaways from those sessions:
(1) On Wednesday, Poles lauded President & CEO Kevin Warren and vice president of football administration Matt Feinstein for enabling the Bears to act quickly in order to land Thuney, Jackson and Garrett—none of whom were slated to become unrestricted free agents.
The Bears traded a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Chiefs in exchange for Thuney and a 2025 sixth-round selection to the Rams for Jackson. They signed Jarrett a few hours after he was released by the Falcons.
"With the salary cap and the finance part of it," Poles said, "we have the flexibility to do that and a lot of it has to do with how well Matt Feinstein has structured everything to allow us to really jump on opportunities."
Poles revealed that he participates in biweekly meetings to discuss the salary cap, a process initiated by Warren.
"We get together to talk about our finances and where we can spend and how much flexibility we have," Poles said. "That was really started by Kevin, and with that openness it allows us to jump on these opportunities to enhance our football team, and I don't take that lightly at all. That communication and collaboration has been huge."
(2) As the Bears prepared for the new league year, Thuney and Jackson weren't among the players they expected to be available on the trade market.
"You do research," Poles said. "Each team has their own situation. Some teams have got to make moves to change it up on the roster and to clear [cap] space. You're aware of those, [but] you're not sure how they're going to play out.
"There's a lot of different ways to manipulate and change things to fit. But in this case, it was unexpected. So obviously when I heard their names, we wanted to work quickly."
(3) All three players the Bears acquired Wednesday have had success in the playoffs.
Thuney has won four Super Bowls—two with the Patriots and two with the Chiefs. Jackson advanced to the NFC Championship Game with the Lions in 2023. And Jarrett reached Super Bowl LI with the Falcons.
"That does rub off through the rest of the locker room," Johnson said. "We're going to define what it's going to look like in terms of our meeting process, our walkthrough process, our practice habits, what it looks like off the field, because that all translates to winning on the field. All three of these guys have done that at a high level."
(4) Thuney was honored to win the Derrick Thomas Award as the Chiefs' most valuable player in 2024.
An All-Pro left guard, Thuney selflessly moved to left tackle to help the team, starting nine games at the new position in the regular season and postseason.
"Just very humbling, whenever your teammates vote that for you," he said. "As an offensive lineman, you kind of just want to play wherever you can out there. You just want to be on the field with the guys. They asked me to play left tackle and I said, 'Yeah, no problem.' I just tried to do what I could out there and [I'm] just very humbled by the guys. It was awesome."
(5) Jackson is thrilled to reunite with Johnson.
In Jackson's first three NFL seasons with the Lions, Johnson served as Detroit's tight ends coach (2020-21), passing game coordinator (2021) and offensive coordinator (2021-23).
"Ben is one of a kind," Jackson said. "He's like a wizard. You can't time up his play calls. You don't know what he's going to call next. It could be third-and-10 and we're running down the 'A' gap and going for a [touchdown]. He's a special, special person."
(6) Jarrett was surprised to be released by the Falcons after spending his first 10 NFL seasons in Atlanta. But he's not worried about proving anything to his former team.
"My motivation doesn't come from trying to get back or vengeance or whatever it is," Jarrett said. "I'm focused on the next thing and my next thing is here.
"I would be robbing Chicago coaches, players, fans if I was up here worried about how Atlanta made me feel. So even to give that energy to say, 'I'm going to get back at Atlanta,' we don't even play Atlanta this year. Whatever they're doing ain't got nothing to do with me. All my energy, all my focus is right here in Chicago, and that's where it's going and that's where it's going to be."
(7) Dalman impressively blossomed from a fourth-round pick into one of the NFL's best centers, but he's far from satisfied.
"I definitely always had faith in myself to approach challenges, develop a plan and then kind of segment into like, 'What does it look like on my daily basis to get to the goal that I want?'" he said. "So it's been nice to see that kind of progress, but by no means is this like in any way an arrival for me.
"I feel like I have so much I need to improve and things that I can get better at all the time. I feel like I'll lean on that more going forward just being able to segment my goals and have the work ethic to execute them."
(8) The presence of promising second-year quarterback Caleb Williams is luring coaches and free-agent players to the Bears.
"I mean, everyone is excited about where Caleb can go," Poles said. "We all know that there's a lot of growth that has to happen to get him to where he needs to be. But that excitement in terms of what he can be obviously helps get other coaches and players excited to be here and work with him and help get him to where he needs to be."
"He put a lot of good stuff on tape last year," Johnson added. "I think everyone recognizes that as they see the crossover tape and they're watching that each week. We've got a lot of really strong building blocks to get this going in the right direction."
(9) Addressing their offensive and defensive lines will provide flexibility in the draft for the Bears, who own the No. 10 pick in the first round.
"This really opens the whole board for us," Poles said. "We're going to be able to sit back and look and say, 'What's the best thing to do for the Chicago Bears and who's the best player that can impact?' We've got some tough decisions and a lot of film to watch between now and the draft."
