By Vaughn McClure
Garrett Wolfe never heard a whisper about his status before Friday's team meeting and didn't receive a call from the Bears after leaving the facility.
In others word, the running back's bubble did not burst. But Wolfe had no immediate plans to celebrate just yet.
"Really, to be honest with you, in my three years here I've never received a phone call telling me I made the team anyway,'' Wolfe said. "Even my second year, when everyone was thinking I was going to get cut, I never got that call.
"I'm guessing they'll reach out to me if there's a problem. If not, then I'll be at work Monday.''
The Bears started the cut-down process Friday as the roster has to be trimmed from 75 players to 53 by the end of the day Saturday. The futures of Wolfe and two other former third-round picks remain unclear.
Garrett Wolfe never heard a whisper about his status before Friday's team meeting and didn't receive a call from the Bears after leaving the facility.
In others word, the running back's bubble did not burst. But Wolfe had no immediate plans to celebrate just yet.
"Really, to be honest with you, in my three years here I've never received a phone call telling me I made the team anyway,'' Wolfe said. "Even my second year, when everyone was thinking I was going to get cut, I never got that call.
"I'm guessing they'll reach out to me if there's a problem. If not, then I'll be at work Monday.''
The Bears started the cut-down process Friday as the roster has to be trimmed from 75 players to 53 by the end of the day Saturday. The futures of Wolfe and two other former third-round picks remain unclear.
Receiver Juaquin Iglesias and defensive lineman Jarron Gilbert, both third-round picks in the '08 draft, appear to be on the way out. Gilbert told the Tribune he had not heard a word from the Bears Friday. Efforts to reach Iglesias were unsuccessful, but his lack of contributions on special teams does not help his situation as the sixth receiver. In comparison, fifth receiver Rashied Davis is a four-phase contributor on special teams.
As for safety Al Afalava and linebacker Tim Shaw, their fates were determined Friday. Afalava, who started 13 games as rookie last season, was informed of his release. And Shaw, who set a franchise record with 30 special teams tackles a year ago, will be let go Saturday, according to a league source.
Shaw's imminent release could affect Wolfe somewhat as he led the Bears in special teams tackles two years ago with 21. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub surely would not want to part ways with back-to-back leading tacklers.
Wolfe has battled undrafted free agent Kahlil Bell for the No. 3 running back spot throughout the preseason. Bell told the Tribune he "hadn't heard anything'' when reached Friday. Keeping four running backs seems unlikely but is not totally out of the question.
When asked specifically about the competition between Wolfe and Bell, offensive coordinator Mike Martz responded: "If you have good players, you find a way to keep them. You work the numbers out somehow. If they're both good players, who knows?''
In terms of the offensive line, typically, the Bears have kept eight offensive linemen under general manager Jerry Angelo, and it would be a surprise if the team deviates from that plan. Kevin Shaffer, Josh Beekman and seventh-round pick J'Marcus Webb likely will stick as reserves. The Bears probably will waive Edwin Williams and try to re-sign him to the practice squad. James Marten and Johan Asiata also could be practice squad returnees.
Other players notified they would be released included receiver Freddie Barnes, linebacker Kevin Malast, tight end Richard Angulo, safety Quentin Scott, center Tim Walter, and cornerbacks Woodny Turenne and Cornelius Brown.
The Bears can establish their eight-man practice squad Sunday.
As for safety Al Afalava and linebacker Tim Shaw, their fates were determined Friday. Afalava, who started 13 games as rookie last season, was informed of his release. And Shaw, who set a franchise record with 30 special teams tackles a year ago, will be let go Saturday, according to a league source.
Shaw's imminent release could affect Wolfe somewhat as he led the Bears in special teams tackles two years ago with 21. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub surely would not want to part ways with back-to-back leading tacklers.
Wolfe has battled undrafted free agent Kahlil Bell for the No. 3 running back spot throughout the preseason. Bell told the Tribune he "hadn't heard anything'' when reached Friday. Keeping four running backs seems unlikely but is not totally out of the question.
When asked specifically about the competition between Wolfe and Bell, offensive coordinator Mike Martz responded: "If you have good players, you find a way to keep them. You work the numbers out somehow. If they're both good players, who knows?''
In terms of the offensive line, typically, the Bears have kept eight offensive linemen under general manager Jerry Angelo, and it would be a surprise if the team deviates from that plan. Kevin Shaffer, Josh Beekman and seventh-round pick J'Marcus Webb likely will stick as reserves. The Bears probably will waive Edwin Williams and try to re-sign him to the practice squad. James Marten and Johan Asiata also could be practice squad returnees.
Other players notified they would be released included receiver Freddie Barnes, linebacker Kevin Malast, tight end Richard Angulo, safety Quentin Scott, center Tim Walter, and cornerbacks Woodny Turenne and Cornelius Brown.
The Bears can establish their eight-man practice squad Sunday.
I heard rumors of a medical issue (shoulder) with Afalava which I think scared off the Bears. With all the questions at safety, I don't think they can afford a spot for special teams this year. My personal list of people who should go - Josh Bullocks - haven't seen him do anything to stand out, anybody listed as fullback - this offence won't utilize them enough, Wolfe needs a fresh start somewhere else. I hope they try to trade Danniel Manning - I think Corey Graham and Tim Jennings played well in the preseason and we have kick returners to spare. As a general comment, I have never heard the level of negativity that I have heard this year, but based on what they have put on the field how could there not be? I think that if you matched up Bears players to other teams, they look OK, but the defensive scheme doesn't give them a chance to succeed. Colt McCoy completing 13 passes in a row? Not one defensive player could step in front of a receiver or lay a hit to knock the ball loose? I think I cold throw the 7-8 yard slant against the Bears.
No surprises from the three stooges running the organazation, this team will be bad for the next decade,I think cowher is looking on and saying I want no part of this mess, good ridance to the whole organazation! This only makes we wnat to become a Dallas Cowboys fan that's how sick these people get me.
It's funny how people complain about back-ups being cut. Tim Shaw was overrated at Penn State and if it wasn't for the fact that our special teams last year missed so many early tackles then he would never gotten as many as he did. Plus if Urlacher and Tinoisamoa hadn't gotten hurt he never would have been signed in the first place. I look at some of the players that have been cut from other teams and the guys cut from the Bears aren't near as good. Afalava should not have been cut I agree he is a good player and was learning very quickly but he's like Sage Rosenfels in Minnesota. Jerry Angelo didn't like him and wanted him gone so he's gone. None of the DB's look very good because they do not have the same skill sets as Ronde Barber and John Lynch did in Tampa. It's time for Lovie to quit living in the past, get out of Dungy's shadow, and make his own defense based off of the players he has. Get rid of Angelo so that Lovie can actually coach the way he wants to. He shows no emotion because he isn't coaching the team, Angelo is. Angelo is a joke. He always has been and he always will be. Iglesias was a good college player but he didn't fit the Bears offense last year or this year. He'll be a good player but only if he gets into a system that fits him. Just like everybody else on the team. If the system the team is running isn't right for a player then he won't do good and there is no reason to keep them. Every team makes bad decisions and good ones. Chicago makes more than their fair share of bad ones. Correction. Jerry Angelo makes more than his fair share of bad ones. Besides who cares about preseason. After the final cuts are made the tension on the players won't be near as exhausting, the team will have time to mesh, and we can go out and kick the shit out of every team we face!
Apalling. They kept Rashied Davis last year because he was "so valuable in special teams", even though many of us never believed it. This year, they cut Shaw who WAS our BEST ST player, and kept Rashied again. They also cit Afalava, who certainly wasn't given much time to develop, despit their horrendous safety mess. And they cut Malast, despite the badly injured and aging state of our LBs. They will probably try to sneak LeFevour through to the practice squad, only to watch another team grab him - proving that they never should have drafted him if they weren't serious about a rookie as the 3rd QB. Horrible, just horrible. How STUPID can the Bears get? They seem to get dumber every year.
Last season; after watching a Bears loss; I watched a New Orleans game; and I was so amazed of the big difference in coaching. This is what makes you realize what is lacking. Lovie isnt even in the same league as other NFL head coaches. I agree too; the defense has went way downhill since Rivera left. They should have fired Lovie and made him head coach.
Bad move, just more of ther same as far as I can see. JA playing favs for his blown draft picks...gonna be a very long and painful year....
at least the Bears will get a top 5 draft pick next year... 4 wins this year, tops
Woody Turrene looked great last night; he seemed to be one of the few who was tackling consistently, but that usually means getting cut to this coaching staff.
lovie will be lucky to win 7 games.
Dungey did not invent the cover 2 defense; The 70’s Steelers used a Cover 2 defense scheme. So many experts here who know nothing.
Did anyone really watch how Shaw played in the first 3 preseason games? He played poorly. Not what you would want to see from what would be the considered the teams number 1 special teams guy.
He seemed to step it up a little against Cleveland (IMO - played like his job depended on it). There is probably a good reason why he was cut from two other teams prior.
Afalava - hate to see him go. They have kept D. Manning after how many missed coverages and blown cover assignments?
Cutting Shaw is not smart. Another team will pick him up for special teams.
Guys... No use sweating these cuts... We have STARTERS that would be cut by other teams
Afalava was a 7th round pick.. only played because the bears were so bad at saftey. Not a huge loss..
Malast got juked too many times to count against the browns and is in general short/slow. No loss..
Shaw was great on special teams and but his linebaking play was pretty bad. In the end he'll be missed..
Freddie pussed out on special teams, which led to a block of Maynards punt. Goodbye!
All this arguing about who got cut only shows how low the bar is when it comes to the Bears and talent.
We know that Dungy came up with the "Cover-2" as a smart way to use the talent that he had in Tampa. It worked because the coach made the best of the talent he had...
The Tampa players made the system work because it was built for their skills. The Bears do not have those types of players or skills. This is why the Cover-2 has failed here. Lovie cannot build a system to maximize the potential of the players he has. He is still trying to jam square pegs into round holes because the Cover-2 is all he knows.
Angelo made his name as the GM at Tampa when he got lucky and the coaches there created a system to maximize the potential of the players. He does not have those coaches here nor does he have the skill to select players with potential.
Philips...God knows why he is there other than to scrape Virginia's bunions and is name is not Michael.
It is going to be a long time before people are in place to rebuild this franchise.
I know this subject is not about who got cut, But the bottom line is LOVIE need's to pack his bag's and go.The Bear's are not going anywhere with this clown. I have never seen so many dumb call's by this idiot.Bring back Ditka!!!
Does anyone know who Chris williams was goign agaisnt
something on your mind cubfan?
get rid of ted phillips, jerry angelo, and lovie smith, and mccsaskeys please sell the team....until this happens this is the inept product you will be seeing!
What teams evaluate is how to get the most out of a roster; which may mean sacrificing something "good" in order to get "balance".
For instance, Corey Graham can play CB, nickel, saftey if neccessary, and works on the punt and kickoff teams. A 4-5 phase player. He's not great, but, he fills roster combinations.
Shaw deserved to hang on, based on his efforts, and was the one bright spot, but, Is he good enough to play LB?
Fringe roster spots have all kinds of intangibles/tangibles.
For grins: Now,letting go of Brandon Aba~~ to F/A two years ago, that was a huge mistake. (Hester hasn't returned one penalty free since?
LOsing Tim Shaw, I can handle.
Afalava and Shaw CUT --2 guys that hit and play a good special teams --so that we cam keep 4 lousy tight ends .. So the special teams will suffer. NOW EVERYTHING WILL SUFFER.
Also can david Haugh just shut up about Collinsd being a good backup.. he played against the 2nd and third strings and they had no pass rush.. Just like the bears center said " AGAING HAUGH COMMENTING ON THINGS HE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT" WHAT A WASTE HAUGH IS.
They keep Bullocks, who sucks. And they get rid of Afalava, who is a second year player who played 13 games as a rookie. And they keep Danieal Manning.
I don't know what type of players Lovie likes in his bull crap system. But he had a good one at the S position (which has been a glaring need for this team since they cut Mike Brown) who he has gotten rid of. Hope he comes ack and kicks the shit outta us.
Lovie has only been able to keep his job because his bosses are boneheads!!!2
didnt realize that Freddie "the beetle" barnes played, much less made it onto the training camp roster. Too bad he had to give it up, guess it's back to punditry on the McClaughin group
Shaw and malast will be on practice squad and alfalava
When you put a businessman in a managerial position for players on a sports franchise you have disaster. I don't care what Angelo has pewrformed in the past he has shown no idea of the talent needed to WIN in the NFL. You've invested time money and effort into the likes of Malast, Shaw, and Afalava. Then you waive them for nothing. This is gonna bite us BigTime. Mark my words. If anyone should be released it should be Jerry Angelo.
When you put a businessman in a managerial position for players on a sports franchise you have disaster. I don't care what Angelo has pewrformed in the past he has shown no idea of the talent needed to WIN in the NFL. You've invested time money and effort into the likes of Malast, Shaw, and Afalava. Then you waive them for nothing. This is gonna bite us BigTime. Mark my words. If anyone should be released it should be Jerry Angelo.
Jim Morrissey on September 3, 2010 12:18 PM
I also think Malast will end up somewhere. The kid has talent,
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Being small and slow is a bad combination at LB.
I should know.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yeah, but....at least you got to wear uniform
number 51 for the Chicago Bears. The "original" 51
was "slow" too....
These comments make me laugh. Reminds me of a conversation I had with a great high school basketball coach (700 wins) after his team held its opponent to like 22 points and they won by 40.
I was talking about how great the defense was and he said, "I didn't think our defense was that great, we gave up too many layups". Then I pointed out all the turnovers, low shooting percentage, etc and he looked at me and said, "You've got to understand something, I see an awful lot of things that you don't". He saw guys out of poistion, or guys slow to the ball or on a rotation.
So given despite what we think and all the football knowledge we all allegedly have, we don't have a clue as to what it takes to evaluate talent at the professional level.
IDK you invest time and money into a draft pick like Afalava, then after throwing him into the mix last year, which was a really bad year, you waive him. Seems to me the person who should be waived is the person who drafted him in the first place Jerry. Maybe Jerry isn't doing his job. I 've always felt that when you put a businessman in a mangerial position in a sport franchise you've made a HUGE mistake as that individual has no IDEA of the talent that it takes to play and WIN. Malast, Afalava, and Shaw will come back to bite the B34R51 mark my words. I've seen it before and to me ,"It's deja vu all over again."
dj moore looks good at nickel you guys
what was the big problem with afalava. he was strong and could tackle. i would like to have seen him have a chance to correct whatever the problem was.
Is funny how I read some of this stupid comments posted here. None of you bums work for the Bears organization so you don't know what's going on behind the scene. None of this players cut were anything special.
So if we cut Shaw then are going to carry 6LBs? Roach and Tinoisamoa are the SAMs. Urlacher and Hillenmeyer are the MIKES. And Briggs and Iwuh are the WILLs. Its too bad we had to cut Afalava too I know he has struggled but I thought he would make a better free safety than a strong safety. Hopefully Wright gets back on the field soon cause were gonna need him. Chris Harris looks like Urlacher the year his back was all jacked up. Manning has done OK but when they have to put him in the box to defend the run he is gonna get run over. Lets hope the defense is gonna be different than the product we saw in the preseason or were in real trouble.
If the Bears weren't forced to punt so often maybe Shaw wouldn't have had so many tackles. Then again, if Cutler hadn't thrown so many INTs maybe he would have had more.
Shocked that Shaw got cut. Great SP player. Hope he gets picked up by someone.
I also think Malast will end up somewhere. The kid has talent,
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Being small and slow is a bad combination at LB.
I should know.
What the Hack on September 3, 2010 11:24 AM
What in the world are the bears thinking. I have never seen such a stupid move in proffesional sports all my life. How do you justify keeping brian iwuh and cutting the best special teamer in all of football last year? how? you can't do it. cut garret wolfe, cut matt toena, cut dj moore,
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Worst move in the history of professional sports in your lifetime?
Best special teamer in all of football?
Overreact much?
Kevin Malast might be the slowest linebacker I've ever seen and the love shown here for a nobody like Tim Shaw is beyond idiotic.
Agree with Dizzy. Shaw really can't do much at LB and given their injury/age concerns at the position, they had to be sure to keep the best back-ups. Other problem is safety, where, given they're so banged up, Angelo has already said they'll keep more than they'd like to ensure they have enough bodies. Hate to see Shaw go, given how important special teams have been to the Bears.
Shaw is a beast on special team, but Iwuh seems to have the edge on the defensive side of the ball. And with injury concerns on all the starters (assuming Pisa would start), this move make a bit more sense.
Not exactly a smart move if you ask me. I understand that they needed a backup to Briggs, but I would think Tinoisamoa would be able to slide over to the weak side, and we have plenty of strong side candidates to step in. Iwuh supposedly beat out Shaw for a special teams spot in Jacksonville, but if he was so good, why was he available? Shaw was an exciting special teams player, and that is saying something when you're not a return man.
He created big hits, momentum changes, and became a leader on that unit. Based on how badly special teams played in the preseason, can we really afford to jettison our best player? Iwuh had better step it up.
I also think Malast will end up somewhere. The kid has talent, and if no one signs him, he belongs on our practice squad. He can play all 3 spots, and sooner or later, Urlacher, Briggs, and Hillenmeyer are going to be gone. We need some bench strength for the future, so if someone does get hurt, we aren't combing the streets for a replacement.
No surprise on Barnes. I don't recall even hearing his name in any reports for training camp or preseason, other than that he has failed to distinguish himself.
Really? Really? Kevin Malast goes and "Practice" star Rashied Davis stays..What a joke. I'd rather have Malast backing up Urlacher than Davis backing up any of the other recievers.
The only guy that did anything last year. Bear's management is totally clueless.
What in the world are the bears thinking. I have never seen such a stupid move in proffesional sports all my life. How do you justify keeping brian iwuh and cutting the best special teamer in all of football last year? how? you can't do it. cut garret wolfe, cut matt toena, cut dj moore,
Shaw gets released and he was a straight BEAST on special teams! This means that FeatherWeight Wolfe had better be packing as well. Knowing the organization they released the wrong person.