Bears
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Probably a lot of people were surprised at some of the cuts from Saturday thinking that players like Adrian Wilson and Nate Collins would stick until the final round. But the Bears were doing these guys a favor by letting them go early. They’ll now have plenty of time to seek out another team. Likely that’s part of the reason they were chosen.
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Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune wonders if defensive end Austin Lane didn’t make the team with his performance against Seattle. He’s got a point. It’s something to keep an eye on.
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Biggs also had this note:
“One of the first players the Bears added to revamp special teams this offseason was linebacker Jordan Senn, who signed a one-year deal on March 13. The move came right out of the gates in free agency and came as a surprise to his former team the Panthers. But Senn has been getting little work with the first team and that would be a sign right now that he is a longshot for the roster.”
I had Senn down as a core special teamer based upon the assumption that this was why the Bears signed him. But the depth chart at linebacker is crowded and obviously I was wrong as Senn was finally cut on Sunday. The Bears special teams are a mess and who those core players are going to be and whether special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis is the guy to get them to perform are real issues.
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John Mullin at csnchicago.com predicts that the Bears will keep six wide receivers: Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Marshall, Santoio Holmes, Josh Morgan, Chris Williams and Marquess Wilson.
He might be right but I’ve got my doubts about that group. Holmes hasn’t shown much yet and a lot will depend on the last preseason game for him. I think the Bears have serious doubts about Williams’s hands (both receiving and returning) and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Wilson end up on IR with the idea that the Bears will bring him back at midseason. There are some interesting decisions that need to be made here.
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Mullin makes a good point in relation to the now settled backup quarterback competition. He believes that one factor was that the Bears could be confident that Jordan Palmer would be available if needed in an emergency but that Jimmy Clausen might well have been picked up by another team.
Elsewhere
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Devin Hester is making things work in Atlanta not only as a returner but also as a receiver. Hester’s had his problems but the biggest was his size and the fact that he just never clicked with quarterback Jay Cutler. Things seem to be going better down south.
One Final Thought
Another season, another pack of injured Packers. This year they are already fighting the loss of nose tackle B.J. Raji and center JC Tretter. The Packers seem to be particularly adept at gathering themselves to overcome these setbacks, needing to lose Aaron Rogers last year before bowing under the weight. It’s already looking another banner year for major injuries up there and its likely they’re going to have to deal with the storm again.
We can only hope the Bears do as well as they are unlikely to be as healthy on offense as they were last year. This is where you find out what your coaching staff and the men under them are made of. Here’s hoping its of sterner stuff than last year where the defense totally collapsed under the pressure.