Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett (83). Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett made his first appearance at Halas Hall under head coach John Fox when mandatory minicamp began Tuesday and said he expected to report for the start of training camp.
But he did not eliminate the possibility of a holdout, saying, “There’s always a possibility. I take it one day at a time.”
Bennett, who had a career-high 90 catches in 2014, wants his contract extended or renegotiated with two years remaining and that’s not a common practice around the league.
“Most people don’t honor their damn phone contract,” Bennett said. “They switch from Sprint to T-Mobile, so, I mean, it’s just like being in an apartment and getting out of your lease because you want to find a better apartment or something better.”
Bennett called it a right to seek a better contract regardless of how much time he has remaining on this one.
“I think every American, every person in the whole world should be trying to get a new contract, and if they’re not, it’s silly,” he said. “For me right now, just continue to work and outperform whatever it is you need to do and you just come back here and ball out.”
Although he did drop a pass in scrimmage time coming across the field, Bennett generally seemed at ease with the new offense under coordinator Adam Gase in his first exposure.
“The great thing about football, there’s only so many concepts you can possibly run,” Bennett said. “Nobody’s really doing that many things different around the league. It’s just different ways of getting there. Once you crack that code, you’re pretty good.
“It’s no different from coding on a website or something.”
After Fox said it was apparent Bennett had been studying the new offense on his iPad, Bennett indicated otherwise.
“Today’s my first day looking at the offense,” he said. “Just like any course you ever take in school.”
Bennett pointed out the entire offense will be reinstalled at training camp again, anyway.
“A lot of guys, they know a lot of stuff we’re doing,” he said, “but I’m pretty intelligent. So I pick up on it pretty quick.
“Just like going to a new school. I fit in everywhere I go. I’m like a dark-skinned chameleon.”
–The Kyle Long experiment at right tackle continued into a second week with the team still trying to paint it as a matter of depth with starters Jermon Bushrod and Jordan Mills sidelined with unspecified injuries.
Quarterback Jay Cutler was as vague on the future of the move as Fox and Long were last week.
“I know he’s enjoying it,” Cutler said about Long playing tackle. “We’ve got a few guys banged up, so we’re moving guys around, and I think it’s safe to say he’ll be on the field at one of those five positions when we open up.”
–Cutler continues to show a rapport in the passing game with receiver Eddie Royal, the free-agent acquisition from San Diego. Royal has caught passes out of all spots on the field, although he’s worked mostly out of the slot.
It’s understandable the two would connect right away because they played together a season in Denver. Cutler recalled how he once grabbed Royal’s arm while breaking a huddle with the Broncos only to find that Royal had “written down all the plays (on his arm) and what he had for each route,” Cutler said. “That just tells me it’s important to him. He doesn’t want to mess up. He wants to come out here and do the right things and that is still the same to this day.”
–With linebacker Jonathan Bostic missing all of OTAs due to an unspecified injury, and both Lamarr Houston (ACL) and Willie Young (Achilles) rehabbing, it’s unclear yet who will be unable to practice or will be limited when training camp arrives.
“I joke and say if I could predict, I’d be at a racetrack somewhere,” Fox said. “But really the whole idea of the offseason is to get guys ready for the season. That can be inside, maybe not being out here. That’s the approach we’re going to take.
“We’re not going to win a championship this offseason; we’re going to build to it and we’re just trying to get guys ready for the season to begin.”
