[CBFF] [Fwd: Metcalf's broken hand explains part of '07 struggles]

[Tom Shannon]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Metcalf's broken hand explains part of '07 struggles
Date: 	Sat, 03 May 2008 16:34:08 GMT
From: 	<Brad Biggs>



It was interesting to learn Friday that one of the contributing factors 
to *Terrence Metcalf’s* benching late last season was a broken hand the 
guard suffered.

Obviously, Metcalf wasn’t around at rookie minicamp to make this 
revelation a la *Muhsin Muhammad *at the fan convention in 2006 when he 
explained away some late-season drops in 2005 by making it known he’d 
been playing with a broken hand.

Metcalf, who has 25 career starts, didn’t reference his injury when he 
was benched but that doesn’t mean he faces any less of an uphill battle 
this year. The third-round pick from 2002 is at a crossroads with the 
Bears looking to revamp the line. He’s got to assert himself to claim 
the starting job at left guard. In the past, he’s been useful to have 
around as a backup because he’s a veteran who understands the playbook. 
The team wants to get younger up front and if he can’t pin down the job, 
there’s no guarantee he sticks as a backup with a salary-cap figure of 
just more than $1.56 million.

There are a host of possibilities in place, including former 
fourth-round pick *Josh Beekman*, seventh-round picks *Chester Adams* 
and *Kirk Barton* and certainly veteran* John St. Clair*. It was St. 
Clair who started the final three games of 2007 in Metcalf's place after 
he had taken *Ruben Brown's* spot when shoulder surgery ended Brown's 
season.

Brown bowed out because he was essentially trying to gut it out with one 
arm. Playing with a broken hand, Metcalf was in a similar circumstance 
having to fight with only one good arm.

St. Clair was signed as a swing tackle but would play anywhere to be in 
the starting lineup. Beekman’s future might be as an understudy to *Olin 
Kreutz*.

This situation isn’t going to sort itself out this weekend, and it might 
not come veteran minicamp at the end of the month. But it’s one that 
will play itself out over the summer.

Check back in a little later when we have some updates from Day 2 of the 
rookie minicamp.


-- 
That all men are equal is a proposition which, at ordinary times, no sane individual has ever given his assent.
  - Aldous Huxley