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The salary cap casualties continue for the Bears as they now find themselves in need of a backup quarterback. Earlier this week Jason Campbell {pictured above}, signed a two-year $3.75 million deal with the Cleveland Browns. This the the fourth franchise that Campbell will suit up for in his career.
Before the Bears, Campbell was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round and was their starter from 2005-2009. In 2010, Campbell was dealt to the Raiders after the Redskins brought in Donovan McNabb. Campbell started for Oakland in 2010, but a broken collarbone in 2011 ended his career in the black and silver.
The Bears pulled him off of the free agent market in 2012 and signed him to a one year contract. Heading into 2013, the Bears have been hit hard by the salary cap. This has caused the departure of numerous players from last season. Most notably linebacker Brian Urlacher and defensive back D.J. Moore.
Not only did the Bears have a rough time giving Campbell the contract he was looking for, the Browns are offering Campbell an opportunity to start. Once Cleveland put it’s new coaching staff in place for 2013, they said that last year’s starter Brandon Weeden would have to compete for the 2013 starting job.
So now Jason Campbell will have his first opportunity to start in the NFL in four seasons. So where do the Bears go from here? Jay Cutler is still the starting quarterback which is a good thing. Now the Bears need to find a backup and reorganize the depth chart. Matt Blanchard is still on the roster, and Josh McCown is still in the fold although he is a free agent.
Josh McCown has been with the Bears on and off since 2011. He was brought to the team after Jay Cutler went down with a season ending hand injury late in the 2011 season. He started the final two games that year and the Bears went 1-1 in that stretch. Last year, he competed with Matt Blanchard for the third string job in the preseason.
He was cut after the final preseason game, but was re-signed after Jay Cutler missed two games with a concussion. He would remain on the roster as the third string QB once Jay Cutler returned. The Bears made additional roster moves to make this possible. It is very likely that the Bears could re-sign him. As for Matt Blanchard….
Last year the Lake Zurich native was an undrafted rookie out of Wisconsin-Whitewater. After putting up some surprising performances in the preseason, the Bears signed him to the practice squad. The Bears initially kept two quarterbacks on the roster until the addition of McCown.
But now Blanchard will have another opportunity to prove himself. But there is still the possibility the Bears could bring in another free agent quarterback or draft one. There are a number of quarterbacks still available on the market. This years NFL Draft isn’t rich with quarterbacks but there still are some prospects out there.
The Bears wont go quarterback in the first round, but there will still be some signal callers available in the later rounds. Perhaps the Bears could land Kansas State’s Collin Klein or Florida State’s E.J. Manuel. But the bottom line is that new head coach Mark Trestman and general manager Phil Emery will have some challenges ahead of them as the salary cap has hit this team hard.
Saturday night I will be at Allstate Arena covering the Chicago Wolves game. They will take on their arch-rivals the Milwaukee Admirals with the puck dropping just after 7pm. You can follow me on Twitter for game updates @GabeSalgado82 #Q101Sports
CHICAGO — No matter how high the risk, Devin Hester still expects opponents to kick to him. The Chicago Bears sure don’t mind if they do.
“This is the reason guys are playing in the NFL — they’re the best players in the world and teams are not going to just shy away from one player on a team,” Hester said.
Some do.
The Panthers didn’t, and Hester made them pay.
He had earlier set up a touchdown run by Forte with a 73-yard kickoff return before he ran back a line-drive punt 69 yards in the second quarter to move ahead of Eric Metcalf on the all-time list. His three somersaults in the end zone after the touchdown that made it 24-10 got him flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, but more important was he once again made a team pay for kicking to him.
“He is a weapon. You have to play eventually; you can’t just continue to kick the ball away,” coach Lovie Smith said. “Devin hadn’t really been that involved, hadn’t really had a lot of big returns so far, so of course I can see why teams have chose to kick the ball to him. They may think twice now.”
The Panthers (1-3) cut the lead to four points at halftime and had their chances to go ahead in the second half but came up short, spoiling coach Ron Rivera’s return to Soldier Field while wasting another big performance by Newton.
The NFL’s third-leading passer coming in, he threw for 374 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more. Carolina wound up with 543 total yards, but the rookie was clearly frustrated afterward.
“I play the game and I want to win every single game I play,” said Newton, who sat by his locker for an extended period with a towel on his head. “Obviously, it hurts when I lose, but it’s not just me. We have guys on our team that you know they have given it all they got. For me, to some degree, I felt like I let some teammates down. But just to look into those guys’ eyes each and every play and to know those guys are battling, it just works wonders for our whole team and its chemistry.”
Steve Smith passed Muhsin Muhammad as Carolina’s all-time leading receiver, finishing with 181 yards on eight catches. He needed 23 to set the record and now has 9,414 in his career, but a few key plays helped preserve a wild win for the Bears.
Tight end Jeremy Shockey was called for offensive pass interference in the third quarter — one of eight penalties against Carolina. It wiped out his 22-yard TD catch from Newton that would have given the Panthers the lead and the momentum.
“I’d like to get an explanation from the league and understand why they would call something like that,” said Shockey, who said the official making the call didn’t give him one.
“We pay their salary and I can’t even get an explanation,” he added. “They should be accountable, as well. They get paid a lot of money.”
Former Panther Julius Peppers then blocked a 34-yard field-goal attempt by Olindo Mare.
He also missed a 52-yard try after Charles Godfrey intercepted Jay Cutler at the Chicago 38. Robbie Gould made it 27-23 when he nailed a 24-yarder with 6:41 remaining.
The Bears (2-2) added to their lead in the closing minutes, when Forte broke off a 40-yard run and Marion Barber took it in from the 3, sealing the win after back-to-back losses to New Orleans and Green Bay.
Forte broke his previous career high of 166 yards last year against Carolina and shook off a brutal performance last week, when he managed 2 yards on nine attempts. He joined Walter Payton (275 and 205) and Gale Sayers (205) as the only Bears to run for 200 in a game, and Chicago wound up with 224 yards on 31 attempts.
“The holes were huge out there even toward the end of the game,” Forte said. “We just kept on pounding and pounding them. The offensive line wore the defense out.”
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Source: http://www.ajc.com/sports/hester-forte-carry-bears-1193064.html
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