[CBFF] ST: Bears to give draft picks taste of NFL life

[Phil DeNomme]

Maybe they asked Hester what he wanted to do and he said CB.  

-----Original Message-----
From: CBFF-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com
[mailto:CBFF-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com] On Behalf Of Victor Waldron
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 8:33 AM
To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com
Subject: [CBFF] ST: Bears to give draft picks taste of NFL life

(Is it just Biggs pushing for Hester to be a slot WR? I'm intrigued by
the possibilities with him there but JA seems intent to lock him in at
CB. Coaches??)

Bears to give draft picks taste of NFL life

May 5, 2006

BY BRAD BIGGS Staff Reporter

The Bears will get their first peek at the new draft class in a
three-day minicamp starting today at Halas Hall.

Second-round picks Danieal Manning and Devin Hester will get much of
the attention -- Manning for his ratio of size to speed, and Hester
for his sheer athletic ability. That athleticism ultimately might make
Hester a better fit at slot receiver than at cornerback, where the
team first plans to work him.

It's also an opportunity for a handful of undrafted free agents and
invited tryout guests to grab someone's attention. Twice in the last
four years, a safety attending rookie minicamp on a tryout basis
turned enough heads to get a free-agent deal and eventually make the
roster. But the chances of a Cameron Worrell or Brandon McGowan
emerging from this group are slim.

With one of the youngest rosters in the league and all 22 starters
returning, the Bears won't have a lot of turnover between now and
September, when the 53-man roster is finalized. That makes the task of
making the team even more challenging for second-day draft picks.

"Once you get in a position where you like a lot of your players,
eventually you have to cut some good players,'' coach Lovie Smith said
when asked if the defensive-minded draft would force the Bears to cut
some players who still can perform. "We could get into that situation,
but that's just saying that we're deep and we have a lot of good
players. I hope we get in that position where we feel that way about
our team.''

Two players the Bears would like to see step forward and challenge
Gabe Reid for the third tight end job are rookies Tim Day of Oregon
and Cooper Wallace of Auburn, undrafted free agents signed hours after
the draft ended. Concern about a knee injury kept Day off their draft
board, but he was projected as a mid-round talent with good speed and
hands. Wallace is a more complete player because he can block better,
and it was a mild surprise he wasn't chosen.

But as general manager Jerry Angelo said rather bluntly, much is being
made about a position that hasn't been a big deal on this team for a
long time. The fact is, coordinator Ron Turner's offense relies more
on wide receivers. Could a dynamic performer at tight end change that?
Sure, but finding one now seems doubtful.

Hester might be able to add some explosiveness to the offense as a
slot receiver, the position the Bears tried to fill in free agency
with Antwaan Randle El. They seem intent, however, on trying Hester at
cornerback, where they already added former Carolina Panthers Ricky
Manning Jr. and Dante Wesley in free agency.

"The thing we don't want to do with him is what they did with him at
Miami,'' Angelo said. "We don't want to bounce him around. We want to
lock him into a position -- the cornerback position -- and let's make
sure we lay a good foundation. Is that to say that he might not be
able to do something on offense? I'm not going to rule that out.''

Developing the young receivers already in place -- Mark Bradley,
Bernard Berrian and Airese Currie -- is the first order of business.
But as was the case last season (and the season before that and...),
it's all secondary compared with the development of quarterback Rex
Grossman, and veteran minicamp doesn't kick off until next month.

bbiggs at suntimes.com

BEARS' PROJECTED DEPTH CHART

OFFENSE
POS.	FIRST STRING	SECOND STRING	THIRD STRING
WR	Mark Bradley	Bernard Berrian	Airese Currie
LT	John Tait	John St. Clair
LG	Ruben Brown	Terrence Metcalf
C	Olin Kreutz	Roberto Garza
RG	Roberto Garza	Terrence Metcalf
RT	Fred Miller	John St. Clair
TE	Desmond Clark	John Gilmore	Gabe Reid
WR	Muhsin Muhammad	Justin Gage
QB	Rex Grossman	Brian Griese	Kyle Orton
RB	Thomas Jones	Cedric Benson	Adrian Peterson
FB	Bryan Johnson	Jason McKie	J.D. Runnels
DEFENSE
POS.	FIRST STRING	SECOND STRING	THIRD STRING
LE	Adewale Ogunleye	Israel Idonije
LT	Ian Scott	Alfonso Boone	Dusty Dvoracek
RT	Tommie Harris	Alfonso Boone	Michael Haynes
RE	Alex Brown	Israel Idonije	Mark Anderson
WLB	Lance Briggs	Leon Joe
MLB	Brian Urlacher	Jeremy Cain
SLB	Hunter Hillenmeyer	Jamar Williams
LCB	Charles Tillman	Ricky Manning Jr.
RCB	Nathan Vasher	Dante Wesley	Devin Hester
SS	Mike Brown	Todd Johnson
FS	Chris Harris	Danieal Manning
SPECIAL TEAMS
POS.	FIRST STRING	SECOND STRING	THIRD STRING
K	Robbie Gould	Josh Huston	Matt Fordyce
P	Brad Maynard	Joel Stelly
LS	Patrick Mannelly
KR	Rashied Davis

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