[CBFF] Q & A with Jerry Angelo

[Steve Behrens]

Arrow continues to point up for Bears slot receiver
By Larry Mayer




In the first of a two-part series, Bears general manager
Jerry Angelo answers e-mail questions from fans exclusively
on ChicagoBears.com:

With Devin Hester having been converted to offense, Mark
Bradley now healthy and the addition of several promising
young receivers, where does that leave sure-handed slot
receiver Rashied Davis?

Andrew
Chicago

Rashied has really looked good in the offseason program.
We feel that he's gotten better. He's taken another step.
We're real excited about what he will continue to add to
the offense. So we've seen nothing but good from him
throughout and the arrow's continuing to point up.

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With Alex Brown having asked to be traded about a month
ago, are you motivated to deal him?

Dan T.
Indianapolis, Indiana

We've had calls about Alex, and as I've always said, we will
listen to anything that we feel would potentially make us a
better football team. We certainly revere Alex not only as a
player but as a person, so for us to actively shop Alex and/or
want to trade him, that's not true. I did visit with Alex and his
agent and discussed his situation and I'll leave it at that. But
as of right now Alex Brown is a Bear and we're certainly
happy to have him on the team.


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How is Dusty Dvoracek coming along and do you expect him
to play a significant role this year?

Gordon
Crown Point, Indiana

He's coming along very well. He's back and going 100 percent. He
 hasn't missed any time at all in the offseason program and we
certainly expect him to have some impact on our football team this
 year. We're real excited about what he brings to our team in terms
of talent and intensity. Once we get to training camp, we'll let the
players and coaches sort things out.

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How is Adam Archuleta fitting in with the team and what role is he
going to play on defense?

James H.
Sydney, Australia

He's fitting in pretty well. What role he's going to have will be determined

by the coaches once he gets into training camp. We certainly know he
can play. Lovie [Smith] and coach [Bob] Babich had Adam when they
were in St. Louis, so they certainly know how he fits in our scheme and
feel very good about him and his status here.

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What made you pull the trigger on drafting Greg Olsen this year instead
of going after a tight end in previous drafts?

Rahul G.
Northbrook, Illinois

Your needs change every year. We felt pretty good about our tight end
position
a year ago. Desmond Clark had a real fine year. We know what John Gilmore
does for us and he certainly has a role. We felt last year we wanted a tight

end , it just didn't work out. We did target Greg Olsen early on. We kept
our
fingers crossed that he would be there on draft day and we were happy that
he was. We're really excited about what he brings to our offense and feel he

complements both Dez and John very well.

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Seeing that the Bears have running backs Cedric Benson, Adrian Peterson
and Garrett Wolfe, can you elaborate on the decision to pursue Chris Brown
(who agreed to terms with the Titans on Monday)?

DeShawn J.
Killeen, Texas

We have exploratory talks with agents about their players as in
 the case with Chris Brown. We're always looking to create as
much competition going into camp as we possibly can. You also
have injuries to players. Competition is good, and if you lose a
player in camp or even during the season, then that player you
had in camp is familiar with your system and he potentially now
will be on your emergency list in the event that you have to look
for a player. So there are always reasons why we talk to agents
about different players. It's not necessarily because we're looking
to replace a player. We add competition and insure ourselves in
the event an injury occurs. That's what precipitated talks with his
agent.

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J.T. O'Sullivan has looked good in his stint in NFL Europa. As a
general manager, what type of emphasis do you place on statistics
from developmental leagues and what is the outlook for him?

Mike
Plainfield, Illinois


This is his second go-around in NFL Europa, so we expected him
to do well as he did in his first go-around. Statistics are important.
Is it the bottom line? No, it's not the bottom line. But it certainly
helps you determine what the bottom line's going to be for a player.
He's done a real good job over in NFL Europa. He's shown real
good leadership skills. We're going to make a determination on
his future with us in the next few weeks.

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Now that Cedric Benson has been appointed the starter, do the
Bears believe that Adrian Peterson can step in for Benson if he
were to miss some games with injuries?

Tim
Surprise, Arizona

Yes, we do. We've felt very comfortable with Adrian doing that.
That's one of the reasons we were able to make the trade involving
Thomas Jones. We feel good about Garrett Wolfe as well. We have
three good backs and we're real happy with all of them. They can all
do a little something different. That adds to the makeup of our football
team, in particular our offense.