Hey guys!  Ready for some more Cedric Benson news that will clear absolutely nothing up?  I thought so.

Cedric Benson has hired a new lawyer as he plans to fight the charges that he was drunk and resisted arrest.

Currently the biggest card being played here is the race one.  From  Benson suggesting he was singled out to his friend Elizabeth Cartwright telling here Dad to call the police because her black friend is being beat up.

The Lower Colorado River Authority has released some numbers in an effort to fight that claim.

...in the last five years, its officers have made 457 arrests on the lake, and that 428 of the people arrested were white and 10 were black.

Again this looks good for the authorities, but doesn't really prove anything.  I imagine we are going to get a lot of little chunks of stuff like this until the 19th when the initial hearing is scheduled.

So he got a strike earlier, but this latest update goes his way.  A witness who was not on the boat, has spoken out in Cedric Benson's behalf.

Toby Patch was at nearby Emerald Point Marina on Saturday night when he claims he saw police "manhandling" Benson after taking the running back off the boat and heading to a squad car. Patch was not one of the 15 people on the boat.

"As they were taking him up the dock, they stopped, he said, 'I am fine, I can continue walking,' and they put their legs behind his knees and knocked him over his knees and started hog-carrying him," Patch told KXAN-TV in Austin.

Near the parking area, Patch says the treatment of Benson worsened.

"They ended up--I don't know why--but laid him on his back, I heard him say, 'Please don't pepper spray me, please don't pepper spray me,'" Patch said. "It was uncalled for, it was ludicrous, no point for it."

I will stop trying to figure this out now.  Every witness or police account can be seen from both sides.  Instead I'll just keep you updated on the latest and let you scratch your heads over it if you want.

In case there are still any of you out there trying to figure out the Bears cap situation, the teams slotted rookie pools have been released .

Team	Picks	Pool
KC	12	$8,221,790
ATL	11	$7,918,670
MIA	9	$6,538,400
STL	8	$5,997,510
CHI	12	$5,791,190

I did not know that the rookie pool were adjustable, I had always assumed everybody got the same amount. If you so chose to move up and take 3 first rounders it is up to you to fit them with the money you have.

As it is how much of a pool each team gets is based on how many picks and which rounds those picks came in. The Bears landed at the 5th highest alloted number due to the amount of picks they had.

We may never know how much truth there is to the police's side or Cedric Benson's side, but this is strike one against Benson's side of the story.  Benson claims that he was being harassed by police and that they 'look' for him.

A story is out that reports that Cedric Benson parked his boat on Lake Travis, in the lakes most popular party cove.  Police have been attempting to crackdown on the drinking and partying at that location.

Again, this doesn't suggest what the Police did to Benson was not in line with his story, but if you go to a party location and everybody is drinking and the cops have been trying to curtail that, you can't claim you were an unfair target.

The general consensus among Windy City Gridiron readers and most Bears fans is that Cedric Benson should be cut for his humiliations both on and off the field.  However, as Brad Biggs of the Chicago Sun-Times points out, sending Benson on the next boat out of Chicago would result in a harsh cap hit for the team.

Benson’s salary-cap figure for 2008 is $3.335 million and if the Bears cut him before June 1 and do not exercise an option to spread the dead money over two seasons, the hit for this year would be roughly $6 million. That would be cutting a sizeable slice into the pie that’s meant to go to Tommie Harris, Devin Hester, Robbie Gould and others in the form of longterm extensions.

If the Bears did a post-June 1 cut, or cut him now and had the money go on the books as a post-June 1 cut, they would still be on the books for more than $2.5 million this season when subtracting out his base pay of $820,000 for 2008.

Biggs goes on to say that even if the Bears release Benson based on his injuries, he would likely file a grievance and win, resulting in effectively paying Benson his salary without him even being on the team.

Like Biggs says, we need all the cap space we can get to lock up Harris and Hester to long-term deals, and Benson's cap hit would definitely complicate things and cause a financial ripple effect that could have a negative impact on signing other players.  So although he'll probably get extremely limited playing time in 2008, we may be stuck with him.

I reported on Benson getting arrested, but I wasn't going to get into the whole his story versus their story until any type of action or resolution came about, but I found this new piece of information interesting.

One of the passengers on the boat, called her parents and asked them to call 911.

"I called my dad and told him, 'Call 911, my black friend is getting beaten up by police on Lake Travis,' " said Elizabeth Cartwright, 22, a friend of Benson's from the University of Texas. "It's more what I heard than what I saw. I have never heard or seen Cedric that scared."

Cartwright put in writing her version of the events on Lake Travis that resulted in Benson being charged with boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest.

She says she is willing to submit her document as evidence supporting his account. She said her fiance also took dozens of photographs that help corroborate her claims.

Now this could all just be just a play, but calling your parent and asking them to call 911 seems like odd thing to do especially when the police are on the boat.  It almost feels like something a scared and desperate person would do.  Now I am wonder if Benson's side might  be more truthful that I originally thought.

The Bears have invited 4 more players to attend camp.

Gerard Lee, DT, Oregon State
Zac Atterberry, P, Lindenwood
Marcus Stone, TE, North Carolina State
Ryan Poles, G, Boston College

Perhaps the Bears like rookie safety Craig Steltz more than they let on.  Today they might have helped pave his way to a starting job. 

The Bears have released safety Adam Archuleta .

With the Bears, Archuleta struggled in run support and pass coverage. He broke his hand in a Week 3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, sat out one game, and then returned the following week. He eventually lost his starting job in late November to Brandon McGowan.

In his lone season in Chicago, Archuleta failed to revert to the form he displayed in St. Louis when Bears coach Lovie Smith and defensive coordinator Bob Babich were Rams assistants.

After an absolutely horrible season last year, the only thing that might have saved his spot was if the Bears could not find somebody they thought could come in and start.  Between Danieal Manning, Mike Brown, Kevin Payne and Craig Steltz they must have decided they had the guns to do so.

 

Matt Forte was considered the star of the Bears two day mini camp, but LSU safety Craig Steltz made an impression as well.

The 4th round selection drew praise from  Bears coaches :

"What we're evaluating right now is in the classroom, and we think he's exactly what we expected," defensive coordinator Bob Babich said. "We think he has an excellent understanding of concepts within the game of football.

"And second, on the field, we're evaluating movement. We've really been pleased with his movement on the field."

Defensive backs coach Steven Wilks agreed.

"Craig is very smart, he picks up things great," Wilks said. "We know Craig can hit. He's physical. I just love his movement and range right now. He's a guy we feel can definitely play [either position]."

The big question seems to be where will Steltz play.  He doesn't have a preference and is prepared to play either.  With the injury concerns of Mike Brown and the poor play of Archuleta he might get a shot at both.

"When I was in the meeting room Friday, we were talking about the same plays we used at LSU, and at LSU the safeties have to be interchangeable," Steltz said. "With the motion, adjustments, just the way things happen, you have to be able to play both.

"At LSU, I was listed as a strong safety. And here, I might be the free safety. But you're playing both techniques. Whichever one they choose works out great for me."

I've seen Stletz play a few times, but can't really say much about him, but I am starting to like the guy just based on reading about him.  He seems to be a real intelligent player, a hard hitter and a guy who just wants to go out and play some football.

It took the Bears a while 2 weeks to cut the first player they picked up.  David Faaeteete, a defensive tackle out of Oregon, was released by the Bears .

The reason listed was that they were looking for something different.  That was probably the nice reason.  If he was tearing it up regardless of how he was doing it, he would still be on the roster.