The Bears signed 14 undrafted free agents Monday, including Northwestern cornerback Chris Martin.
Their next move will be to sign punter Kent Sullivan to compete with Todd Sauerbrun. Sullivan should be in the fold by the time a mini-camp begins Friday in Lake Forest.
Special teams coach Danny Abramowicz considers Sullivan, who was with Washington last year until the final training-camp cut, worthy competition for Sauerbrun. If Sauerbrun doesn’t turn around his problems of a year ago, Abramowicz insists Sullivan could win the position.
Besides Martin, the Bears signed offensive tackles Jason Augustino from Virginia and Derrick Turner from Florida A&M, wide receivers Don Blair from Calgary and Shaston Coleman from Mississippi State, safeties Clarence Sutton from Appalachian State and Jeff Horton from East Tennessee State, linebackers Michael Lowery from Mississippi and Ahmani Johnson from Oregon State, defensive end Carlos Chester from Houston, center Andy Crowe from Florida State, fullback Ed Hobbs of Albany State, guard Seth Littleton from Mesa College and tight end Bobby Neely from Virginia.
Shaston Coleman was the Mississippi State roommate of Walt Harris, the cornerback chosen in the first round by the Bears.
Nothing new: The Bears had their eyes wide open for a tight end from the beginning of last weekend’s draft. “We tried to take a look as early as the first round,” player personnel director Rod Graves said.
But they never could find the right fit and now are expecting to enter next season with the same group: Keith Jennings, Chris Gedney, Ryan Wetnight and unproven free agent Andre President.
So coach Dave Wannstedt looks on the bright side: “We got as good a blocker as there is in Keith Jennings. Maybe it’s just the optimism coming out in me, but I still believe Chris Gedney is capable of playing well and Ryan Wetnight is a capable player. We also look at President as every bit as talented a player as what we would have drafted from the fifth round on.”