Matt Forte wasn't the only rookie to impress at Bears rookie mini camp. Vanderbilt receiver Earl Bennett despite a shaky start and Marcus Monk from Arkansas both impressed.

The Bears’ work-in-progress WR corps is widely considered ordinary at best, with the team’s OTAs set to begin early next week. With that in mind, the consensus among team insiders is that both rookie pass catchers Earl Bennett and Marcus Monk — drafted in the third and seventh rounds, respectively — have an opportunity to make their presence felt fairly quickly. That much was expected from Bennett, who excelled at Vanderbilt in the tough Southeastern Conference, but not necessarily Monk, who according to recent rookie minicamp observers, was more consistently impressive than the receiver the Bears drafted four rounds earlier. Bennett got off to a shaky start in the minicamp, appearing to have a bad case of the jitters initially, but he steadily improved as the camp wore on, to the point where he was catching every pass thrown his way by the time the final day had been completed. Monk, meanwhile, caught everything in sight from the get-go, according to one close observer. “He could be a serious sleeper,” the observer told PFW. “He doesn’t have a lot of speed, but his size (6-4, 222) and hands could make him a real red-zone weapon.”

 

The article then goes on to put out that the two might lead to the Bears releasing newly signed Brandon Lloyd.  They follow by suggesting that there are rumors floating around Halas Hall that that might be the case.

I am pleased to see that Bennett and Monk are instilling such confidence, but I just can't see Bears releasing Lloyd unless he has some off the field incidents between now and then or gets shown up at training camp.  Aside from Marty Booker the Bears don't have anybody who has a lot of experience as a starting receiver.  Devin Hester, Rashied Davis and Mark Bradley have all had playing time and might have a start or two under their belts, but nothing more significant.  Lloyd despite what skills he may or may not have has been at least a #2 in the league for a few years, that does count for something until somebody else proves they are the better option.

Recently I found I've been trying to figure out just whose side I'm on in this whole deal with the Bears and Brian Urlacher's new contract demands, so I thought I would list out each side and see where it stands.  If you have some that I missed let me know and we can add them to the list.

Pro-Urlacher

1) Brian Urlacher, even injured, is still one of the better line backers in this league.  Healthy it is hard to say he isn't the best.  He is the prototype linebacker for running any form of the Cover-2.  Shouldn't he deserve to be paid as a top 3 linebacker?

2) Lance Briggs just got paid.  Tommie Harris is going to break the bank and PK Robbie  Gould just signed the richest deal ever shelled out to a kicker.  Shouldn't the face of the franchise be taken care of?

3) The doctors say Urlachers is 100% healthy.  That should not be used as a factor in deciding how much he is worth.

4) The salary cap has risen substantially since he signed his deal.  It was 75 million when he signed and 116 now.  Surely they have enough room to offer him something.

Pro-Bears

1) Bears management and coaching staff believe this team still can contend, so long as they take care of the import pieces that need taken care of.  See Harris, Gould and Hester.  Right now they don't need to be dealing with a guy who still has 4 years left on his contract.

2) Urlacher signed a 9 year deal.  His agent and he knew that the salary cap would be higher moving into the future.  If they wanted to cash in again they should have worked a smaller 5 year deal and they revisit the contract in the offseason.

3) Urlacher has 4 years left on the deal.  Why should they Bears have to rework his deal so soon?

4) Regardless of what doctors say, until Urlacher goes through a full season of grinding and being hit, with no ill affects from his injuries you never know how he will hold up.

5) The Bears offered him an additional year to his current contract.  The extension would have contained an additional 5 million up front, an additional 1 million for the next 4 years and the extended 5th year would have paid him a base pay of 9 million.  That sounds like a fair deal.

Strictly by the numbers it looks and feels like the Bears are in the right here.  I am not saying that Urlacher shouldn't be allowed to ask for a raise or even that he doesn't deserve it, but the one thing Bears management has been able to do is win the public perception vote.  They took a hit during the Lovie Smith contract situation, but that was only because Smith outplayed them by keeping quite, but overall the players who want more from the Bears always tend to look like whiny brats.

The Bears have issues like their inability to properly handle our QB situation or their unwillingness to let go of an offensive coordinator who isn't very good, but the one overriding thing they always do well is take care of their own so long as the money is there and they player isn't asking for more than he is worth.

The Chicago Bears and place kicker Robbie Gould agreed to terms on a new 5 year extension.  The deal keeps Gould in blue and orange until the 2013 season.

The Penn State product is the most accurate field goal kicker in Bears history among those with at least 50 attempts, having connected on 84 of 99 tries (84.8 percent) in three seasons.

“I’m really excited,” said Gould, who was entering the final year of his original contract. “I’m excited to stay in the city of Chicago and to be a Chicago Bear. This is one of those opportunities that’s once-in-a-lifetime and life-changing, and I’m just excited to have it.

 

“I’m excited that my hard work has paid off, but I’m definitely not done working hard and making field goals and kicking kickoffs. That’s what I get paid to do. Now it’s just a matter of being able to go out there and have fun, relax and enjoy it.”

Our offense is in such a state of confusion it helps to know they are attempting to keep our defense and special teams at a high level.  If they can get Tommie Harris and Devin Hester extended and then throw a little dough at Urlacher to keep him happy, it would go a long way to get our minds off of still not having a franchise QB yet.

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.

Could the Chicago Bears be about to blow the lids off of every mock draft written by selecting California wide receiver DeSean Jackson?

Keep in mind this is only a small blurb buried toward the end of this article.

Other rumors are surfacing that the Chicago Bears may select him to revamp their offense. If this is true, the Bears will have the most dynamic kick return game the NFL has ever seen with Devin Hester to one end of the field and Jackson to the other. 

Teams would be better off just kicking the ball out of bounds then risking two return men like Hester and Jackson to terrorize them.  On offense, Jackson would provide the Bears that much needed go to receiver and help fill the void left by Bernard Berrian when he signed with the Minnesota Vikings this offseason.

Listen, I'm all for the Bears looking to add to our rough looking receiver corp, but I don't think I can buy that at the #14 pick.