Out of all of the free agents the Falcons had entering the offseason, Drew Dalman was by far the most notable.
The club’s starting center was one of the few great draft picks by Terry Fontenot, but the Falcons clearly felt the three-year, $42 million deal the Bears gave him was too rich for their blood… or, Dalman may have chosen Chicago over Atlanta.
According to CBS Sports insider Jonathan Jones, Dalman chose to take less money to play under Ben Jonhson and with Caleb Williams. There wasn’t a specific team mentioned in the report, so we can’t be sure that the former fourth-round pick picked the Bears over the Falcons for less money.
We do know there were plenty of other interested teams. Dalman was the top center on the free agent market, and there were a lot of teams that needed a starting center.
I would be pretty shocked if the Falcons were the club that offered more than $14 million per season and Dalman chose the Bears. If anything, I imagine the Falcons offered a competitive deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $10-13 million per season, and the Bears beat it.
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Photographer: John Byrum/Icon Sportswire
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