The Chicago Bears announced that they have signed former Saints C Brian de la Puente to a one-year contract on Sunday.
LM: #Bears have agreed to terms with free agent center Brian de la Puente on 1-year deal. Puente spent last 3 years with Saints.
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) April 6, 2014
There was talk in recent weeks that De La Puente could be back with the Saints, however, they have some cap issues that probably factored into the amount of money they could offer him.
It was a little surprising to see how little interest he generated on the open market, but this should be a quality addition for Chicago and they previously signed LT Jermon Bushrod way from New Orleans last year.
The Bears re-signed Roberto Garza shortly after the conclusion of the regular season, so it will be interesting to see if there ends up being a camp battle between the two players.
De La Puente, 28, was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 12 center in the league this season. He held up well in pass-protection, but struggled to be effective in run protection.
We had him listed as the No. 5 player in our Best Available Free Agents list.
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