A week ago, the Bears' Kahlil Bell and Rashied Davis came away impressed with Jay Cutler, who appears fully recovered from the knee injury that knocked him out of the NFC Championship game last January (and led to skepticism and comedy bits).
Wideout Earl Bennett, who has also worked out with Cutler this offseason, echoed similar sentiments to those of his teammates. Bennett said Cutler looks "awesome," adding "He’s been out there throwing the ball well, moving around good. He’s ready to go … We know the type of player Jay is. We just look forward to this year because we know he going to have a great year."
Bennett is familiar with Cutler; the two played together at Vanderbilt. He's also in the last year of his rookie deal, and is coming off 2010 season where he caught 46 passes for 561 yards and three touchdowns. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz, a man who will never be accused of leaning heavily on the running game, said that "We didn't throw to [Bennett] enough [last year]."
Martz continued: "That will be remedied. He will figure in a much larger role than he did last year. He came to us late. He was injured. I wasn’t really sure where he was with all the stuff. But he established himself as a guy who needs to get a lot more balls than he did.
"He’s extremely reliable. I know Jay [Cutler] feels comfortable with him in the slot doing some of those things. But he should be able to play outside for us as well."
See, no need for Plaxico Burress.
via the Chicago Sun-Times