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Martellus Bennett has had an interesting career. A second round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2008, he spent his first four seasons as a back-up to Jason Witten. He was known to be athletic but he never got a chance to shine buried behind Witten. In fact, after his first season when he caught four touchdowns, he never again caught a TD in a Dallas uniform.
Last season he signed a one-year "prove-it" type deal with the New York Giants, providing him an opportunity to be the guy and hopefully hit it big in the free agent market. Sure enough, he did, setting career highs in receptions (55), yards (626) and touchdowns (5).
Bears General Manager Phil Emery went out and quickly signed Bennett for four years on a relatively team-friendly deal ($20.4 million, $5.215 million guaranteed) with the bigger money coming later in the deal (base salary for 2013 is only $715,000). Bennett gets a chance to be the big playmaking TE the Bears have lacked since Mike Martz drove Greg Olsen out of town and the Bears also get a player who is a well-rounded blocker, making him the most complete TE the team has had since Desmond Clark.
While Bennett may never be an 85 reception, 1,000 yard-type TE he can be a playmaker down the middle of the field and create match ups that will have head coach Marc Trestman salivating.
So how big will Bennett's numbers be?
Receptions: Over/under 62.5
Touchdowns: Over/under 7.5
Yards: Over/under 715.5
Side Bets:
Odds he's the Bears second-leading receiver
Odds he leads the team in TD catches
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