Bears Release DT Adams

According to sources, the Bears have released defensive tackle Anthony Adams.  Signed as a free agent in 2007, Adams has been an excellent run defender with the Bears and has been perhaps an even bigger influence in the locker room.  Many fans are familiar with Adams’ light-hearted nature and his “Fat Man Dance”.  The first two words of that title, sadly, helped lead to his release.

Coming out of the lockout last year, Adams was out of shape.  He was too much fat man, not enough dance.  A couple weeks into camp, he suffered a calf injury that held him out for about a month.  While we can’t tell whether his extra weight or lack of conditioning contributed to the injury, it certainly couldn’t have helped.  After his returned he played sparingly, appearing in 11 games and making only 16 tackles.

Now the good news.  While Adams was struggling, the Bears got excellent production from both Henry Melton and Amobi Okoye.  Even though these two players play the three-technique, a position different than the nose tackle position that Adams played, their success is relevant because it will allow the Bears to play Stephen Paea (who can play the three-technique or the nose) in the rotation at nose tackle with Matt Toeaina.  While Paea struggled to get on the field early in his rookie year, he did show promise down the stretch.  If this is in fact the case, Adams’ release leads us to believe that the Bears are confident they’ll be able to retain Okoye (who was playing on a one year deal) before he gets to free agency.  This would be a good thing for the Bears’ D-Line.

In other news, reports are that the Bears are close to resigning CB Tim Jennings.  He was said to be looking for a significant raise over his $1.9 Million salary from 2011.  As an undersized zone corner, he wouldn’t be in high demand on the free market and likely wouldn’t earn much more than that.  If he does get a raise, however, he might have teammate Zackary Bowman to thank.  Remember, Jennings was benched in week 16 vs the Packers last year and Bowman, his replacement, was beaten badly for three touchdowns.  So while they’d be wise to not overpay, the Bears would be smart to get a deal with Jennings done, especially considering his predominantly solid play over the past couple years and their lack of depth at the position.