Where is Briggs? Linebacker Lance Briggs is not expected at mini-camp because he has said he will hold out to protest his franchise tag status. When Briggs stayed away from mini-camp and team sessions last off-season, he found himself on the second team.
Coach Lovie Smith disagreed with the term “demotion,” explaining Briggs had fallen behind players who were in camp, namely Leon Joe. The non-demotion demotion lasted about a day.
This year Briggs’ projected absence is different. Joe was not going to hold onto the weak-side linebacker job, but Jamar Williams might. He was playing well last season before injuring his shoulder and the fourth-round draft choice appeared to be what the Bears wanted, an adequate backup for Briggs.
In April, the Bears invested a third-round pick in another weak-side linebacker, Michael Okwo from Stanford.
“We have a good player in Jamar Williams and I’m really interested to see how he progresses,” general manager Jerry Angelo said. “Okwo is a very, very good player — he reminded me a little bit of Lance.”
The Bears are not waiting for Briggs, who will spend Friday at Florin Elementary in Sacramento to take part in the Stephanie Starks HOPE Foundation’s Project Read. He also will visit his former coaches at Elk Grove High School.
Briggs and the Bears have something in common. Both sides hope Okwo and Williams emerge as the next Lance Briggs. He wants a trade, and trading him becomes considerably more feasible if his replacement is in place.
Next to Tommie Harris … The Pro Bowl defensive tackle is returning from a season-ending leg injury so his work will be controlled carefully. But with Tank Johnson facing an NFL suspension of unknown duration, the Bears cannot hold his starting job open.
Antonio Garay was effective as a fill-in when Harris and Johnson were gone at times late last season. But the Bears projected Dusty Dvoracek, a third-round draft choice and former Oklahoma teammate of Harris’, to play a big role in the interior rotation before a preseason foot injury ended his rookie season.
Johnson will be in mini-camp but is far from NFL shape after 60 days in jail.
Who’s the new kid? Devin Hester’s switch to offense had been contemplated, at least by offensive coaches, since draft day 2006. Now it has happened and the Pro Bowl returner will be worked at both wide receiver and in the backfield, although blitz pickup isn’t likely to be a strength just yet.
Quarterback Rex Grossman really likes the speed of Bernard Berrian. Now he will have Hester as an alternative, if Hester demonstrates he can handle offense with anywhere near the skill that he handled punt and kickoff returns.
End game: Defensive right end stands as perhaps the deepest position on the depth chart. But who starts? Alex Brown is a two-time Pro Bowl alternate; Mark Anderson was runner-up as the 2006 defensive rookie of the year. The problem, from Brown’s perspective at least, is there are only so many snaps to go around.
Brown is the Bears’ best all-around end and has made himself a solid player against the run though he is no more than 260 pounds. Anderson is their best pass rusher. Brown wouldn’t mind a trade though the Bears haven’t given formal permission for agent Joel Segal to seek one.
The most likely scenario is Brown will be a Bear at the very least into training camp, longer than that if the Bears need him, shorter than that if some team knocks the Bears over with an offer for an underrated young player at a premium position.
Tight squeeze: The Bears were well served by the blocking power of tight ends Desmond Clark and John Gilmore. They used a first-round pick on Greg Olsen because of his receiving abilities and he was everything they had hoped with deep speed and excellent hands in rookie camp earlier this month. Clark and Gilmore averaged a TD every 6.4 catches in 2006 so while the Bears want Olsen to play, he won’t have anything given to him.
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jmullin@tribune.com
