Bears hope new DT Price is right
BOURBONNAIS —— The Bears gambled very little on Thursday’s acquisition of defensive tackle Brian Price, who was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ second-round pick (35th overall) in 2010 but has struggled with injuries and personal problems.
But it may be some time before they see much of a contribution from a player who once was believed to have a bright future.
The Bears didn’t disclose the 2013 draft pick they swapped for the 6-foot-1, 303-pound UCLA product, but it is believed to be a seventh-rounder. Price started 14 games last season and had 24 tackles, including 20 solos and added 3 sacks.
He played well for the Bucs when healthy and is considered an ideal fit in the Bears’ one-gap, 4-3 defense. But last season he played through extreme discomfort from surgeries to repair both hamstrings and a pelvic fracture. In the spring he was hospitalized four days for physical and mental exhaustion after collapsing at the Bucs’ training site shortly after his 33-year-old sister, Bridget James, was killed in a car accident.
“He has struggled some here in the last year,” Bears general manager Phil Emery said. “He’s had a tough go of it with family issues, obviously. This is a player that needs a new home.”
Ideally, Price will work in a rotation with Stephen Paea behind starters Matt Toeaina at nose tackle and 3-technique tackle Henry Melton.
“He is a penetration (-type player), explosive, get off the mark, get into gaps and cause-disruption-type player,” Emery said. “He can fit.”
Wait for it:Don#146;t read too much into J#146;Marcus Webb taking almost every first-team rep at left tackle during Thursday#146;s opening practice, while Chris Williams worked with the twos.#147;It#146;s not his job to lose,#148; offensive coordinator Mike Tice said of Webb. #147;He happened to be in there first (Thursday) because of the fact that he finished the season as a starter. It#146;s going to be a dogfight for those two guys. I#146;m not going to put up with any stuff as far as turning guys free and not protecting the quarterback. #147;We have too many athletes to not be able to throw the football explosively. And no it#146;s not his job to lose. He might think so. But if he thinks so he#146;s wrong.#148;Starting with a thud:Three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall, the expected catalyst of a high-octane offense, got off to a slow start on the first day of practice with a couple drops.#147;He knows that that#146;s something we have to work on,#148; said wide receivers coach Darryl Drake. #147;We can#146;t drop the football. I expect him to make those non-routine catches, and he expects to make them. I#146;m going to be tough on him when he doesn#146;t, and he wants that, he welcomes that.#148;Get a grip:Brandon Marshall wasn#146;t the only player who struggled with ball security during Thursday#146;s practice.Rookie wide receiver Alshon Jeffery fumbled after a short, sideline reception, and running back Kahlil Bell coughed it up once. The first team also jumped offsides once. All of which led offensive coordinator Mike Tice to make a statement before he fielded questions after practice.#147;You can#146;t put the ball on the ground,#148; Tice said. #147;You cannot put the ball on the ground. And you can#146;t jump offsides. I know it was the first day, and we#146;re working a lot of things on the line of scrimmage, but we#146;re also coming off of an off-season with a bunch of practices and a bunch of times that we did it, (and) we did it right. #147;We can#146;t come out the first day and look like we never did it before. We#146;re not going to put up with that. We#146;re going to have a higher bar than that. We#146;re going to set the ceiling a lot higher than that. So we#146;ve got to get that cleaned up right away.#148;