Archive for the 'NFC North' Category

The Green Bay Press-Gazette reports, “There is no indication RB Ryan Grant, who has been sitting out while awaiting a contract resolution, will practice in minicamp.” Full story here.

Monster Take: Coach McCarthy doesn’t seem too worried about this one. That lends us to believe that a contract will be worked out soon. However, we’ll watch this one closely and keep you updated.

ESPN reports, “the Bears placed Benson on waivers Monday, two years before the end of his contract and three years into a disappointing career with the team.” Full story here.

Monster Take: Benson’s self destruction leads to the immediate upgrade of Matt Forte from promising rookie running back trying to beat out the incumbent to the probable starter for the Bears.

The Austin American Statesman reports, “a month after being charged with boating while intoxicated on Lake Travis and resisting arrest, Chicago Bears and former University of Texas running back Cedric Benson was arrested and charged with drunken driving in downtown Austin early Saturday, police said.” Bears general manager Jerry Angelo had this to say, ““There was alcohol involved, that’s all we know. We are certainly going to take this seriously. Disappointment is a too often-used word when talking about Cedric. The number one lesson of every player is protect your job.” Full story here.

Monster Take: Benson is really digging himself a hole here. Will this be the last straw? We’ll keep you updated.

ESPN reports, “Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith is prepared to let quarterbacks Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton compete for the team’s starting spot until the fourth and last game of the preseason, though he’s hoping it doesn’t come to that.” Full story here.

Monster Take: We don’t recommend taking either of these guys in your draft. In addition to the poor past performance of both of them, the Bears traded away their two best playmakers in Muhammad and Berrian.

The Chicago Daily Herald reports, “although he will turn 32 during training camp this summer, Booker returns to the Bears in the same capacity in which he left — as the No. 1 receiver.” Full story here.

Monster Take: The Bears lost Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad during the off-season. Booker will become the Bear’s number one option at wide receiver. Booker’s upside will be severely hampered by the Bear’s issues at quarterback, but should still have decent production.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports, “running back Cedric Benson participated in the OTA on Tuesday at Halas Hall a day after he did not show up for Monday’s initial OTA.” Full story here.

Monster Take: No explanation was given for Benson’s absence. Now the competition begins for the starting spot. Even though the Bears have stated that the job is Benson’s to lose, we think he stands a good chance of doing just that.

Regarding Cedric Benson, ESPN.com reports that “the Bears running back was missing from the start of the team’s voluntary organized team activities. He was expected to attend.” Full story here.

Monster Take: While this was a “voluntary” workout, Benson was expected to be there and didn’t show. Given his off field issues, this doesn’t help his situation.

ChicagoBears.com reports that Lovie Smith said, “Cedric was our starter last year, and he’s our starter right now. For someone else to be the starter, they’re going to have to beat him out.” Full story here.

Monster Take: Coach Smith has a history of sticking with the incumbent - think Rex Grossman. Matt Forte or one of the other backs will need to show something this summer to take the job. We think Forte’s got a real shot at doing it, maybe tempered a little by Smith’s penchant for sticking with the incumbent longer than many probably would.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports, “General manager Jerry Angelo said the Bears have no plans to release running back Cedric Benson in the wake of his arrest last weekend in Texas.” Full story here.

Monster Take: There had been a lot of speculation that Benson would be released by the Bears over this latest off field issue. This should put an end to that. However, Benson still will have his hands full holding off Matt Forte for the starting position.

The Detroit Free Press reports that Coach Marinelli while talking about running back Tatum Bell said, “He might be up there a little bit more, yeah.” Full story here.

Monster Take: Bell has a shot at winning the starting running back spot in Detroit. While it’s never good to show up out of shape, Bell still has plenty of time to get where he needs to be. We’ll keep an eye on this to see how Bell responds to the opportunity he has here.