Since the 2026 offseason began, the Patriots haven't engaged in many trades, largely because they want to keep as much of their previous season's roster as possible to replicate their success. On top of that, they didn't have many players head into free agency, so there wasn't a list of players they needed to offload elsewhere.
That didn't stop them from sending one offensive lineman packing to Chicago, however, when they sent center Garrett Bradbury to the Bears in March.
At the time, it wasn't a well-received move for a few reasons, the most notable being that the 30-year-old was coming off one of his best seasons in years and could become a centerpiece of their offensive line as a result. Beyond that, they had signed him to a very team-friendly contract, and because they needed more depth, he made sense to keep on the team.
Instead, they traded him to the Bears and moved Jared Wilson to center, the position he played throughout college.
Now that we're a few months removed from the trade, it looks as if the Patriots are fine without Bradbury, and reports now indicate that the Bears are beginning to consider life without him, too.
Eliot Wolf is looking like a genius for trading Garrett Bradbury earlier this offseason
The latest chatter out of Chicago suggests that Bradbury isn't performing too well with his new team, and he's now considered a potential roster cut well ahead of training camp.
That's a massive shift from how valuable he looked during his time with the Patriots, and it's now making the decision to trade him look even better for Eliot Wolf.
Despite playing like a first-round draft pick for New England in 2025, which he hadn't been doing for the Vikings, and that ultimately led to them cutting him, he's not able to maintain that level of performance with his new team. It's looking instantly regretful for Chicago, which sent a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Patriots to acquire him.
It might not be a stiff price, but it's a complete waste if they aren't able to get better production out of Bradbury, who they presumably hoped would be their next starting center. Just a few months in, and it's already looking like they'll want to trade him somewhere else.
The problem is that if he's not proving to be who he was last season, it's hard to imagine that any other team would be willing to give up a pick as high as a fifth-rounder to take him in. Maybe that won't matter to the Bears if they just want to offload him, but it would be a huge loss for a trade they had high hopes for.
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