The feeling in the Iowa football program was the two teams doing the most work on Hawkeyes center Logan Jones leading up to the NFL draft were the Baltimore Ravens and the Chicago Bears.
It would make sense for the Ravens to return to Iowa City in their hunt for a center after losing Tyler Linderbaum, a former Hawkeye, to a record-smashing three-year, $81 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency.
The Ravens have done well at the school. That’s where they got eight-time Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda in 2007, and they could use a replacement. Of course, longtime Bears standout Jay Hilgenberg was an Iowa product.
Chicago Bears in the NFL draft: Iowa C Logan Jones, Stanford TE Sam Roush, LSU WR Zavion Thomas added on Day 2
The Bears didn’t anticipate they’d be in the center market, but Pro Bowl selection Drew Dalman abruptly retired one season into a three-year, $42 million contract. General manager Ryan Poles, who candidly discussed frustration in filling the role in the past by describing the search for the right center like looking for a “unicorn,” was forced back into the market even after trading for 30-year-old Garrett Bradbury, a bridge option under contract for one season at $4.8 million.
The Bears must believe Jones has a chance to be that “unicorn” because they pounced early, making him the first center chosen in the draft Friday with the 57th pick in Round 2. It didn’t address a defensive need, but nine defensive linemen and five cornerbacks came off the board in the first 24 picks of the round. Poles said the Bears figured there would be an early run on edge defenders, and “it wasn’t really possible to get up that high without giving up a ton.”
If Jones is the prospect the Bears believe he soon can be, and if safety Dillon Thieneman — the Round 1 pick — hits, the Bears have added core players. They don’t solve issues on the edge but they’re still at positions of need.
Coach Ben Johnson has made it clear how significant the center is, not just for quarterback Caleb Williams but for the outside-zone running attack, so setting the line up for the foreseeable future was an understandable priority.
The Bears had two more picks, adding Stanford tight end Sam Rosh and LSU wide receiver Zavion Thomas in Round 3 after trading away their second second-round choice at No. 60.
The coaches will have to get the players on the field and sort things out, but Jones’ draft status makes it clear he should challenge for a starting job sooner rather than later. This isn’t a Day 3 pick who everyone will be comfortable with being an understudy for a season.
One thing that makes Jones qualified: He ran outside zone for the last two seasons at Iowa for offensive coordinator Tim Lester, the Wheaton-Warrenville South product who was an analyst for the Green Bay Packers before joining Kirk Ferentz’s staff.
“Coming from the NFL here, running a ton of the wide-zone schemes, which is very common in the NFL and not as common in college, very fortunate,” Lester said. “I’ve been here two years — 26 games — and very fortunate I had him for all of them. I’ve had a guy that can run and reach and flatten a nose and climb to the second level. Super smart, tough. So, I have been spoiled in that regard.”
Jones started 51 games over the past four seasons after entering the Iowa program as a defensive tackle. He was limited to one game in 2021 with a knee injury, the final season Linderbaum starred for the Hawkeyes. Jones switched to center in the offseason, won the job and was the Rimington Trophy winner — given to the most outstanding center in college — and a captain for the line that won the Joe Moore Award, given to the best O-line in the land.
At 6-foot-2, 299 pounds, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.9 seconds. More importantly, he had a 1.75-second 10-yard split and high marks in the three-cone drill and shot shuttle.
“A man that big that can run like he runs, it just doesn’t happen,” Lester said. “He squats 700 pounds. Super smart. It’s unbelievable. In college you don’t necessarily have the quarterbacks that can handle a system quite like this. So, I put a lot on Logan.”
Column: 1st-round pick Dillon Thieneman gives the Chicago Bears a wealth of speed, range and disguise options
Johnson stressed just how much Dalman did for Williams and the offense as a whole last season, so it’s easy to imagine, at some point in the future, that kind of responsibility being given to Jones, who will turn 25 in October.
Director of player personnel Trey Koziol described Jones as relentless, a term that probably gets applied to more defensive guys than offensive.
“We talk about the mental stamina of that position to consistently — he’s got a lot on his plate in terms of doing mike IDs and all that stuff in the run game,” Koziol said. “They come from a really well-coached program there. So to be able to handle the cerebral side and keep the composure to handle that piece while combining it with the intensity, physicality and the relentless play, it’s rare to find that. A lot of times you might have one or the other. When you get a combination of those two, it’s really exciting to watch.”
Roush came next as an early-third-round pick at No. 69. He’s going to compete to be the third tight end in an offense that prioritized the role last season. Durham Smythe played 293 snaps in the regular season and another 42 in the playoffs.