The Chicago Bears could be gearing up to make a massive push to sign Baltimore Ravens free-agent center Tyler Linderbaum.
According to Jason Fitzgerald of OvertheCap.com, with the release of Tremaine Edmunds, trading DJ Moore away, and Drew Dalman retiring, the Bears now have around $33 million in cap room.
When Ben Johnson became the head coach of the Bears, the team immediately went into free agency and signed the top option at center. Now that Dalman retired, the expectation is that the Bears will have the same aggression to sign a starting-caliber center, which is where Linderbaum comes into the picture.
He’s not just this year’s No. 1-rated free agent center; he’s the top offensive lineman available period. And according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, he’s predicting Linderbaum signing with the Bears.
Bears Predicted to Make Massive Tyler Linderbaum Signing
Not only does Graziano predict the Bears signing Linderbaum, but he believes Chicago will give him a history-making four-year, $90 million deal with $60 million guaranteed.
“This would be an average salary of $22.5 million per year, which would blow the top off the center market,” Graziano wrote. “Kansas City’s Creed Humphrey is currently the highest-paid center at $18 million per year. But by hitting unrestricted free agency at age 25 in an offseason with a ton of teams looking for starting center and guards, Linderbaum should cash in big-time thanks to a bidding war between multiple teams — one of which just had its 27-year-old center retire unexpectedly this week.”
Signing Linderbaum won’t be easy for the Bears. Not only will it cost the team a majority of the available cap space, but NFL insider Albert Breer sees multiple teams going after Linderbaum during free agency.
“…The Ravens would like to keep him, and I see the Lions, Bears, Chargers, Giants, and Browns as teams that should be in the fight to get him.”
Chargers are now out of the mix, since they signed former Washington Commanders center Tyler Biadasz to a three-year, $30 million deal, but the rest of the teams listed could make a serious push, especially the Gaints now that John Harbaugh is their head coach.
Bears’ Plan B at Center
If the Bears luck out on signing Tyler Linderbaum or decide he’s too expensive, Plan B should be Buffalo Bills free-agent center Connor McGovern.
He was an integral part of Josh Allen’s MVP season, fits the Bears’ outside zone scheme on offense, had a 97.2% pass block win rate in 2025 which was tied with Linderbaum for 2nd among 31 qualifying centers, and had zero sacks allowed in 2025.
Expensive: Tyler Linderbaum Moderate: Connor McGovern Cheap: Lloyd Cushenberry III
He’s three years older than Linderbaum, but The Athletic’s Daniel Popper has McGovern projected to sign a three-year, $39 million deal, which is an average annual salary of $13 million, $9.5 million cheaper than what Graziano is predicting Linderbaum signing.
“McGovern has played both guard spots and center in his NFL career, starting the past two seasons at center for the Bills,” Popper wrote. “Considering how thin center is in this year’s free-agent class, McGovern should project as a well-above-average starter at that position. He has the foot speed to reach difficult blocks in the run game, play in space and mirror rushers.”
Regardless of what path the Bears take when addressing the center position, it won’t be cheap.
Bears Predicted to Make Massive $90M History-Making Move