Bears Backfield: Who's Next?
Unless you've been living in a cave, you may have heard that the Bears cut Cedric Benson on Monday. There's not much to say about this move, other than:
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Benson's performance on the field wasn't worth all the distractions. You can bet your ass that he wouldn't have been cut had he rushed for 1,500 yards last year.
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Benson officially ranks number 5 on
this list. I put him after Salaam because a) he was a productive member of a backfield tandem that went to the Super Bowl, and b) he
did score a TD in a NFC championship game. You expect a heckuva lot more from the 4th overall pick in the draft, to be sure. But believe it or not, he could have been worse.
So now what? Well, they've got 2nd round pick Matt Forte, appendix-boy Adrian Peterson, and the tiny Garrett Wolfe. I like what I've heard about Forte, but I wouldn't bet the farm that he could carry the load himself coming out of Tulane. Peterson is a career third stringer who is, while great on special teams, barely acceptable for a spot start. And it is unknown whether the skills Wolfe flashed at NIU will ever amount to much more than him being a 3rd down back in the NFL. So the Bears desperately need to sign someone.
The names floating about are Kevin Jones, Shawn Alexander, and Travis Henry. Forget I mentioned Henry right now, as his problems make Benson look like a choir boy. And Alexander frankly didn't look like he wanted to play football last year. Or, if he did, he was simply too old to get the job done. That leaves Kevin Jones.
Jones is a bust-out for the Lions and coming off an injury. But people are saying that he's an excellent worker that really wants to do well in the NFL (unlike Benson), and when healthy he did do all right behind a shaky Detroit line. Plus, if the Bears sign him, he'll get two chances per year to stick it to his old team. He's holding a workout at the end of the month for NFL scouts. If he's healthy, the Bears should definitely sign him. Everyone else out there is a retread at best.