Larry Mayer

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New Bears centerDrew Dalmanhas reached the pinnacle of his sport due to a combination of talent, size, work ethic and other intangibles.

But it's not a journey he has traversed alone. The 26-year-old is grateful to those who have mentored him along the way, a list that begins with his father.

Chris Dalman was an offensive lineman who played all seven of his NFL seasons with the 49ers from 1993-99, appearing in 105 games with 64 starts. He opened all 16 games he played at right guard in 1996 and all 43 contests he appeared in at center from 1997-99.

While Drew was only a toddler when his dad retired from the NFL, he has benefitted from his father's wisdom and experience. Chris served as his son's position coach during his prep career at Palma School in Salinas, Calif.

"That was super, super formative, an incredible experience," Drew said. "I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was really, really formational for my techniques and the way I see the game. In high school, you're just learning, so that was great. Now it's more of a 'dad thing' and someone that I can trust and bounce things off of and talk to and just talk shop with."

Drew followed his dad to Palmas School, Stanford University and into the NFL.

As his high school position coach, Chris did "an incredible job," according to Drew.

"From my end, it was awesome," Drew said. "I'm sure I frustrated him at times, but when we were on the field, it was 'coach' Five seconds after, it was 'dad.'"

Selected by the Falcons in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, Dalman was mentored as a young player by veteran offensive linemen Chris Lindstrom, Matthew Bergeron, Jake Matthews and Matt Hennessy.

Another veteran who helped Dalman hone his skills was defensive tackleGrady Jarrett, a two-time Pro Bowler who also signed with the Bears earlier this month.

"Super fortunate to be a teammate with Grady," Dalman said. "Incredible player, incredible guy in the locker room. Absolute professional. I remember coming into Atlanta and seeing him go about his business and seeing him work, and I immediately understood like, 'OK, this is the gold standard.' And then in practice making me look silly dozens of times, exploiting my weaknesses, forcing me to learn from them and adapt to them, so that's been invaluable in my development.

"I look forward to practicing against him more He's a guy that lets us know about our tells and our tendencies because he'll pick up on them because he's a savvy player in that way. I think he's a huge resource for the offensive line in general."

Jarrett was thrilled to learn that Dalman was also signing with the Bears.

"I'm super excited to have him here," Jarrett said. "I think the city of Chicago will love him. It's so crazy because I got to see him grow as a young rookie and get thrown into the fire early and just get better every year, especially this past season and the season before, just becoming one of the better centers in the league.

"He's physical, he's strong. He's like a rock. But he's quick, he's smart. He's not much of a talker, but he's locked in all the time. He's highly cerebral. He's a hard worker. He's going to do every little stretch, stay in the weight room. I respect the heck out of Drew. We're going to have some good training camp battles."

Jarrett is convinced that Dalman will continue to make incremental progress.

"The impressive thing is I've seen him get better every year," Jarrett said. "He just keeps getting better and better. He's in a sweet spot now where the time he's going to be here probably will be the best years for him."