[CBFF] ST - Slimmer Muhammad looks for big year

[Jim Ferolie]

 I did not realize this. He definitely had a little room to lose 10 pounds, so I have a feeling that could have a little effect on his speed and reactions.

Slimmer Muhammad looks for big year 

August 4, 2006 

BY MIKE MULLIGAN Staff Reporter 




Offensive coordinator Ron Turner saw Muhsin Muhammad from a distance last week and thought the Bears had signed a new player. Bernard Berrian walked past Muhammad without recognizing him. Amazing what a haircut and 10 fewer pounds will do for a guy. 

Muhammad isn't small by any means, but he said he feels quicker and more explosive after an intense offseason in which he incorporated diet into his training regimen. Like many of his teammates, he credits the influence of strength and conditioning coordinator Rusty Jones with helping him learn to eat healthy. 

''Throughout my career, I've pretty much been able to eat whatever I wanted to eat,'' Muhammad said. ''I was calorie counting and watching the fat intake -- all that stuff. I was pretty serious about it.'' 



IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED 
Since 1999, the Bears have used 13 draft picks -- counting a fifth-rounder in 2000 that was traded to New Orleans for Eddie Kennison -- in an effort to solve their problems at wide receiver. 

      Year Name Round Current team 
      1999 D'Wayne Bates 3 Out of football 
      1999 Marty Booker 3 Miami 
      1999 Sulecio Sanford 7 Out of football  
      2000 Dez White 3 Minnesota 
      2000 Eddie Kennison* 5 Kansas City 
      2001 David Terrell 1 Denver 
      2001 John Capel 7 Never played in NFL 
      2002 Jamin Elliott 6 Atlanta 
      2003 Bobby Wade 5 Tennessee 
      2003 Justin Gage 5 BEARS 
      2004 Bernard Berrian 3 BEARS 
      2005 Mark Bradley 2 BEARS 
      2005 Airese Currie 5 BEARS 
*The Bears traded their fifth-round pick to the Saints for veteran Kennison. 


Muhammad, 33, is in the best shape of his life entering his 11th NFL season. 

''That's what this game is all about, keeping the edge and finding what you need to do to keep the edge,'' Muhammad said. ''I thought this would be a good thing for me to try. I feel quicker. I feel explosive. I feel good. I feel good where I am right now, and I feel good about playing.'' 

Muhammad is hardly just another player on the Bears' offense, but he's also no longer the Beowulf of the gridiron set, arriving from afar to save the day. That mythology ended with too many dropped passes last season. 

Still, if Cedric Benson starts at running back, Muhammad will be the only skill-position player other than tight end Desmond Clark with any real experience, an amazing fact when you consider the average offensive player is 29 with seven years of experience. Those numbers are skewed by the number of free agents the team relies upon on offense. 

Seven on offense not drafted 



Other than Benson, center Olin Kreutz, quarterback Rex Grossman and the winner of the starting job opposite Muhammad -- the smart money is on Bernard Berrian over Mark Bradley -- seven offensive starters were not drafted by the Bears. You can argue that two other free-agent additions, Thomas Jones and Brian Griese, deserve to make that number nine. 

The team's decision not to draft a wide receiver this year has put an inordinate amount of expectation on Muhammad. After not selecting a receiver in 1998, the Bears used 13 picks at the position in seven years. Only four of the 13 are still on the team: Berrian, Bradley, Justin Gage and Airese Currie. 

''We have talent over there,'' Muhammad said when asked to assess the receivers opposite him. ''These guys are trying. They are working hard. It may be something where they say we're going to give these guys a chance, and if it doesn't work out, then maybe we can address it next year with either a draft pick or a free agent or something like that. You have to let them grow and give them time in the system.'' 

Management's belief in Bradley and Currie is one of the reasons the Bears didn't draft a wide receiver this year. You can develop only so many guys at once. But Bradley is coming off ACL reconstruction surgery, which usually takes a full year of recovery, and he has yet to look like the player he was before the injury. Currie has a knee injury that will keep him out for weeks. 

Berrian has played well, as has converted cornerback and Arena League refugee Rashied Davis. Gage no longer looks to be in a roster battle and certainly will play in the NFL this year if not with the Bears. 

Trade not out of question 



Still, it's hard not to feel that the team is a player short at the position, one of the reasons trade rumors involving Denver's Ashley Lelie and Oakland's Jerry Porter keep floating around. A deal is only a possibility and nothing is in the works. 

All of which makes Muhammad as central a figure as anyone in an improved passing game. 

''When a guy loses weight like that, it tells you he is trying to do something, trying to make himself better,'' Bears coach Lovie Smith said. ''When you lose weight, that is normally some kind of commitment you've made to get pounds off like that. Moose has worked extremely hard. It seems like the All-Pros, the ones I have been around, they seem to get better as the years go on. They take care of their body year-round. 

''He didn't have the type of year he wanted last year. Normally, when that happens you say, 'Hey, what can I do?' All you can do is get your mind right and then come in in the best physical shape you can.''