After four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, Drew Dalman left the Falcons to sign with the Chicago Bears in free agency last offseason. He signed a three-year deal with the Bears, but lasted just one season, as Dalman just surprised the NFL world by announcing that he would be retiring from football.
For a guy who used to be a fan favorite with the Dirty Birds, this is a huge bummer. Dalman was just 27 years old and five seasons into his NFL career. He was expected to be a linchpin of Chicago's offensive line for years to come, but instead made the shocking decision to hang up his cleats.
The 2021 fourth-round pick out of Stanford was great during his four seasons in Atlanta, and got even better in Chicago. Dalman was fresh off of his first Pro Bowl appearance in which he played in all 17 games after missing nearly half of the season for the Falcons in 2024 and three games in 2023. But this may open the door for Chicago to pursue Tyler Linderbaum.
Ex-Falcons center Drew Dalman just announced he is retiring from football
He signed that three-year deal worth $42.5 million with the Bears last offseason, and helped stabilize their OL for Caleb Williams. He led all centers in offensive snaps played, and according to Pro Football Focus, his 77.5 PFF grade ranked sixth among all centers, while his 78.9 run block grade ranked seventh.
This likely suggests that injury concerns are involved, but weirdly enough, the only injury history that he has are ankle issues. That doesn't seem damning enough to retire, but to each their own. That's what sidelined him for eight games in 2024, but has mostly been a durable and reliable staring center.
The Falcons sorely missed him upon his departure, but Ryan Neuzil was solid in his place as the starting center. He stepped in admirably, so the one caveat about this news is that fans in Atlanta should be lucky this didn't happen an offseason earlier when he was still playing for the Falcons.
According to a report from NFL insider Ian Rapoport, he had been considering retirement for a while, which makes this all the sadder. It's not right to speculate about what the cause of this could be when we truly do not know, but all we can hope is that Dalman takes care of himself after calling it quits.
I hope he understands that Falcons fans appreciate him for all he brought to the franchise, even though he didn't retire a Falcon. Once a Falcon, always a Falcon, so enjoy retirement 52.