Get ready to roll out the red carpet for the sack king.
Adewale Ogunleye planned to arrive at Halas Hall on Monday to undergo a physical and meet his new Bears coaches and teammates. He spent Sunday tying up loose ends at his home in South Florida and absorbing the significance of the six-year, $33.4 million contract the Bears signed him to Saturday night after trading wide receiver Marty Booker and a third-round draft pick to the Dolphins.
The deal included a $10 million signing bonus. “I told my parents [Saturday night], ‘You don’t have to work anymore,’ ” Ogunleye said.
Ogunleye’s weekend happiness was tempered by tragedy. A former college teammate and roommate at Indiana was killed in a car accident. The funeral will be this week, but Ogunleye plans to be on the Bears’ practice field.
Ogunleye sounded excited about relocating to Chicago. “It’s great that there’s so many [Indiana] alumni in Chicago,” he said. “I have a lot of people there who have told me my name has been all over talk radio lately.”
Defensive end Alex Brown called the trade for Ogunleye a great deal Saturday night, but quickly concluded that he had nothing more to say. It’s understandable why Brown might feel slighted by the Bears spending a small fortune for a player at his position, but a conversation with Michael Haynes could cheer him up.
“The way I look at it, [Ogunleye] was at Miami where he had Jason Taylor to take all the double teams and he was one on one,” Haynes said. “Well, if he comes here he can face the double teams.”
Haynes has a point, but he will have to beat out Brown to prove it. Coach Lovie Smith said Ogunleye will start at left end, and Brown will compete with Haynes on the right side.
“Alex Brown has been our best defensive end before ‘Wale’ came here, so I’d say the inside track was with him,” Smith said.
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Rush to judgment
If Hall of Fame candidate Richard Dent is the template, does Adewale Ogunleye fit the mold?
Wanny factor
Ogunleye: 25 sacks in 39 games coached by Dave Wannstedt.
Dent: 121 1/42 sacks in 19 games coached by Dave Wannstedt.
Sacktistics
Ogunleye: Has 25 sacks in four seasons. Had almost as many sacks (15) as the entire Bears team (18) last season.
Dent: Oh, just 137.5 in 14 seasons. He also led the NFC with a team-record 17.5 sacks in 1984. Take that, Wally.
Family tree
Ogunleye: Descends from royal Nigerian bloodlines. His uncle is king of Emure, a city of 150,000, and his great-great-grandfather, King Ademori, made history as a brave warrior during 19th Century civil wars.
Dent: Descends from great-great Grandpa Junebug Dent, renowned for his “watchoutdenow” dance moves at family barbecues. OK, we made that up.
No Draft-day love
Ogunleye: Went undrafted, mainly because he tore a knee ligament against Northwestern his senior season at Indiana.
Dent: Was the Bears’ eighth-round pick (203rd overall) in the 1983 draft.
Style points
Ogunleye: Prides himself on being as good a run stopper as a pass rusher. Also plays the arguably more difficult left end, which often pits him against an additional blocker and allows the quarterback to see him coming.
Dent: An intimidating player, could speed rush or power rush the
quarterback.
Backup
Ogunleye: Said in a radio interview Sunday that the key to his success is coverage by the cornerbacks and a strong push up the middle by the defensive tackles, which prevents quarterbacks from escaping his outside pressure.
Dent: Benefited from the strong play of Hall of Fame defensive tackle Dan Hampton.
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Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com) and Chris Courtney (cdcourtney@tribune.com)
