Angelo Speaks

"We would like to have Rex back. Rex showed some good play, particularly when he was coming back off his little sabbatical. We'd like to have as much competition as we can there."

Would Grossman return as the starter?

"In all likelihood, without sitting and talking with the coaches, off the top of my head, it's got to be competition," Angelo said. "Somebody's got to be first in line, obviously. But that will be determined in the off-season."

"Franchise is a strong word," Angelo said. "I'd like to think he can still be a featured back. But there's going to be competition at that position.

"If something were to arise and there's a good back in the marketplace or in the draft that we feel can complement the backs or give us the kind of competition that we feel [is needed], then we're going to look at that as well.

"[Benson] started to turn the corner. Unfortunately he got an injury, and we didn't see what we needed to see, or what we feel we're going to see with him."

Angelo said his definition of a featured back is one who can break off multiple 20-yard runs in a game.

"He's got to feel comfortable with the people that he works with every day," Angelo said. "And that's obviously Lovie's call. He feels real good about his staff. ... We feel the problems that we have can be corrected. We have made changes on our staff before. If that were what he felt was in our best interest, I'm sure he would have done it."

Angelo said he would like to keep free agents such as Lance Briggs, Bernard Berrian, Brendon Ayanbadejo and Grossman. He didn't rule out using the franchise tag on Berrian but the price tag for Briggs might be too costly.

"If we don't [get those players back], then we have others players that will take their place," Angelo said.

"How am I'm going to count on Mike Brown? Mike's been hurt a lot. We certainly would like to have Mike on our football team, but we're just going to wait. He's several months away from being back and healthy again."