PFT has called out Bears GM Jerry Angelo concerning his approach to the Cedric Benson situation.

Angelo said:

“The thing that I am most disappointed in is the fact that he put himself in a position to be the victim,” Angelo said Saturday night, per the Daily Herald.

 

PFT says:

But that doesn’t make much sense: If Angelo thinks Benson is telling the truth, and he was just a law-abiding citizen enjoying an evening on his boat when the police dragged him away and pepper-sprayed him, how is that putting himself in a position to be the victim? And if Angelo thinks Benson isn’t telling the truth, then he shouldn’t view Benson as “the victim” at all.

Until we know exactly how this is going to play out it impossible to make any real judgements, but you get his point.

The real part of this is that Angelo goes on to address the issue of cutting Benson.

There’s no plans to cut him,” he said. “I’m a little surprised it’s an everyday story, but unfortunately it is and he’s having to deal with it. I’m not anticipating any reason why he wouldn’t be [in training camp]. We’ll just let the courts decide what the facts are and we’ll go from there.”

When the Bears selected Kellen Davis a TE out of Michigan St, most in our community were dumb founded by the move.  With Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark locked in at the 1 and 2 spots, it seemed unusual to draft a TE just for blocking purposes.  Surley they could find a blocker in FA or somewhere on the team. 

As it turns out the Bears might have other plans in mind.  While he may still see time blocking for Benson or Forte or Wolfe or Peterson, he might also see time at defensive end.  Davis played both in college. 

I haven't heard anything official, but here it states that Davis has said he'd be willing ot make a full conversion to the defensive side of the ball if asked.

Whether or not he makes a full conversion of spends time on both sides having a 6' 7" guy roaming around the line on passing plays and/or FG attempts could clog up some lanes.

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.

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.

Many of us believe that the Bears drafted Tulane running back Matt Forte to eventually be Cedric Benson's replacement.  Now whether you think he can do or not, might not matter.  Cedric Benson's name is just showing up too often with a negative comments attached to it.  Regardless of what happens at least Matt Forte is impressing in camp .  Not that that means anything, but with an offense that doesn't work, I don't need to be hearing our 2nd round selection is showing up out of shape and unprepared.

Tulane running back Matt Forte, the Bears' second-round draft pick, figures to be Cedric Benson's chief competition for the starting running back position when training camp begins July 23.

He impressed coaching staff during a three-day rookie minicamp that concluded Sunday. Benson was arrested early Sunday in Texas on charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest.

"Matt Forte ... since the first practice, has stood out," Bears coach Lovie Smith said Sunday. "He looked like he's been here before and that's what you want to see."

Here are ten assessments/predictions concerning the Bears draft picks for next year .

3. I know I am in the uncomfortable position of agreeing wholeheartedly with Mel Kiper Jr. that the Bears improved as much, if not more, than any other team in the draft. Whether that means they went from a 6-10 team to a 7-9 one or from 8-8 to 9-7, well, that will take training camp to crystallize those projections.

The offense, which could include new starters at as many as six positions, received an instant upgrade as long as left tackle Chris Williams and running back Matt Forte start from Day 1, even if it means matching up Williams on Colts right defensive end Dwight Freeney. Remember too that Grossman and Orton immediately improved with the addition of rookies likely to bolster the Bears' pass protection and running game.