Rookie reciever Earl Bennett has been impressive at the wide out spot, catching most anything thrown his way.  But once that ball gets up in the lights and gets an awkward spin on it he isn't so hot.

"It makes me a little nervous, and the wind out here is really strong," Bennett said, "but I just have to keep getting repetition at it."

Bennett has taken pointers from Devin Hester, the league's most dangerous return man. Hester urged Bennett to pay attention to the flags to get a feel for wind direction. That sounds simple, but Bennett returned only a few punts during his college career at Vanderbilt.

If Bennett wants to take advice from Devin Hester on returning then good for him, but Hester might not be the best person to listen to Hester when it comes to catching the ball. 

The Bears were planning to go into camp with Devin Hester and Brandon Lloyd as their starting wide receivers.  With a hold out by Hester, Marty Booker stepped in and ran with the first team.

The Bears lack experience at the wide receiver spot.  Only Marty Booker has more than 3 years experience with meaningful playing time. What the Bears do have is a lot of speed and a ton of potential.  Hester, Bradley and Lloyd all have high end speed.  They also are carring two promising rookies.

The Bears current roster of wide receivers looks like this:

Devin Hester
Marty Booker
Brandon Lloyd
Rashied Davis
Mark Bradley
Earl Bennett
Marcus Monk
Mike Hass
Brandon Rideau

Hester, Booker, Lloyd and Bennett are probably locks at this point.  Based on OTAs the Bears have probably seen enough good out of Monk to keep him. Rashied Davis was the Bears top performer during OTAs, I'd like to see them keep him.  At least he is familiar with the play book.   I don't know how many recievers the Bears are going to run with, so Hass and Rideau are either cuts or practice squad players.  Mark Bradley is the X Factor.  The Bears seemed intent on marking him a starter going into this year, but with his latest surgery the Bears don't know when he will be ready.

Let's take a look at the numbers of those with NFL experience:

(numbers after the jump)

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The Bears took care of three more of their rookie class yesterday.

Marcus Harrison,  Earl Bennett and Zackary Bowman all recieved 4 year deals with the Bears.

Marcus Harrison

Harrison is a first-round talent who dropped in the draft because of durability and character concerns. The 6-3, 310-pounder tore his left ACL last spring, but rebounded to register 76 tackles, 6½ tackles-for-loss and 1½ sacks while starting 10 games at Arkansas. He also batted down 10 passes and forced one fumble.

Earl Bennett

Highly competitive and productive, Bennett finished as the SEC’s all-time leading receiver with 236 catches despite playing only three seasons at Vanderbilt. The 6-foot, 209-pounder is the only player in conference history with at least 75 receptions in multiple seasons.

Zackary Bowman

Bowman showed promise in 2005 at Nebraska, recording 27 tackles, 14 pass breakups and two interceptions while starting five of 11 games played. But the 6-1, 197-pounder tore his left ACL in spring practice and missed the entire 2006 season.

The two remaining players yet sign are first rounder Chris Williams and second round Matt Forte.

A source close the Bears organization said that the Bears and third round selection Marcus Harrison should finalize a deal within the next 24 hours.

Third-round pick Marcus Harrison is on the verge of signing a four-year deal with the Bears, an NFL source said Monday. The deal is expected to be finalized within the next 24 hours.

Harrison, a defensive tackle from Arkansas, could provide a spark as a backup on the interior of the defensive line this coming season. He had first-round potential, but an arrest and ACL injury caused the rookie to drop. Harrison is projected as a future starter.

The remaining unsigned Bears draft choices are 1st rounder Chris Williams, second rounder Matt Forte, third rounder Earl Bennett and fifth rounder Zackary Bowman.

I am curious as to how Cedric Benson's waiving effects Matt Forte's signing.  Surely before he pretty  much had to sign what was given to him, but now with Benson out he has a bit more leverage if he was interested in pushing.

e Bears continue to roll signing another of their draft class.  This time 4th round selection Craig Steltz.  Steltz is a safety out of LSU.  The deal is for 4 years and details will be posted once available.

The Bears now have 7 out of 12 draft picks signed.

The remaining 5 are Chris Williams (T, Vanderbilt), Matt Forte (RB, Tulane), Earl Bennett (WR, Vanderbilt), Marcus Harrison (DT, Arkansas) and Zackary Bowman (CB, Nebraska).

Bears wide receiver coach Darryl Drake has said that he feels the receiving corp in Chicago is better than the one last year .

He feels there is a lot more explosiveness on the field now.  While this initially seems like it might be a dig at Berrian, really it is just a statement that the Bears overall talent pool has improved as a whole. While no one Bears receiver will likely duplicate Berrian's numbers this year, there is not reason to think that the squad will not be able to cover it.

Last year the Bears were pretty much just Bernard Berrian and an occasional bomb to Devin Hester.

This year though we replace the no longer sure handed Mushin Muhammad with the sure handed Marty Booker.  Hester will get a full camp in at the wide receiver position and rookie's Earl Bennett and Marcus Monk are both playing surprisingly well.  And from early reports Brandon Lloyd is working hard to regain his career and if he can catch on it gives the Bears another burner at the position.

While at the beginning it was assumed the Mark Bradley would be the default winner of the #1 receiver spot, there is now a possibility that when he is recovered from his knee surgery he could be fighting just for a roster spot.

But the Bears might get production from an unsuspecting place, though I don't know why he was written off to begin with:

'But the best player for us probably out on the field has been 81 [Rashied Davis],'' Drake said. ''He's quicker, he's faster, he's stronger. He puts more fear in them -- you go ask those guys on defense who puts fear inside them.''

Two years ago, Davis was clutch and a big piece of the puzzle, but last year he was lost and it looked like this year he might find his way off the team, but I guess he has something to say about that.

Last year's sqaud that had a record catch are:

Bernard Berrian, Mushin Muhammad, Devin Hester, Mark Bradley and Rashied Davis

This year's squad looks like this:

Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Earl Bennett, Marcus Monk, Brandon Lloyd, Rashied Davis, Marty Booker

This makes Curtis Hamilton, Mike Hass and Brandon Rideau and possibly Bradley ,depending on how many receivers we carry,  cuts or practice squad  players.

Obviously not having Berrian is a big hole, but despite their overall youth, I like the looks of this squad.  At least as much as I can for not having really seen them play many games.

Add to this that Desmond Clark is still solid and Greg Olsen should have a bigger role.

If either Grossman or Orton can have a consistently decent year, the Bears can do some damage.

Last week it was mentioned  that with the impressive play of Earl Bennett and Marcus Monk that newly signed Brandon Lloyd might get let go before he even played a down.

It has was also assumed that Mark Bradley or Devin Hester would fill the number 2 receiver spot next to Marty Booker.  Apparently that has all gone by the way side.

Mark Bradley had arthroscopic knee surgery this month and might not be back in time for the start of training camp.

During camp Brandon Lloyd filled the number two spot.  If Bradley isn't ready that leaves Lloyd, Hester and Bennett to compete for the #2 spot.

I am not sure where this leaves Rashied Davis in this equation.

Matt Forte wasn't the only rookie to impress at Bears rookie mini camp. Vanderbilt receiver Earl Bennett despite a shaky start and Marcus Monk from Arkansas both impressed.

The Bears’ work-in-progress WR corps is widely considered ordinary at best, with the team’s OTAs set to begin early next week. With that in mind, the consensus among team insiders is that both rookie pass catchers Earl Bennett and Marcus Monk — drafted in the third and seventh rounds, respectively — have an opportunity to make their presence felt fairly quickly. That much was expected from Bennett, who excelled at Vanderbilt in the tough Southeastern Conference, but not necessarily Monk, who according to recent rookie minicamp observers, was more consistently impressive than the receiver the Bears drafted four rounds earlier. Bennett got off to a shaky start in the minicamp, appearing to have a bad case of the jitters initially, but he steadily improved as the camp wore on, to the point where he was catching every pass thrown his way by the time the final day had been completed. Monk, meanwhile, caught everything in sight from the get-go, according to one close observer. “He could be a serious sleeper,” the observer told PFW. “He doesn’t have a lot of speed, but his size (6-4, 222) and hands could make him a real red-zone weapon.”

 

The article then goes on to put out that the two might lead to the Bears releasing newly signed Brandon Lloyd.  They follow by suggesting that there are rumors floating around Halas Hall that that might be the case.

I am pleased to see that Bennett and Monk are instilling such confidence, but I just can't see Bears releasing Lloyd unless he has some off the field incidents between now and then or gets shown up at training camp.  Aside from Marty Booker the Bears don't have anybody who has a lot of experience as a starting receiver.  Devin Hester, Rashied Davis and Mark Bradley have all had playing time and might have a start or two under their belts, but nothing more significant.  Lloyd despite what skills he may or may not have has been at least a #2 in the league for a few years, that does count for something until somebody else proves they are the better option.