Extreme makeover: How the revamped Chicago Bears could look

John Fox's second-edition Bears team that reports for training camp this summer will look a lot different from last year's model.

Nine free-agent pickups in March were followed by nine draft picks in April. Three veteran starters departed in free agency, (Matt Forte, Jarvis Jenkins and Shea McClellin), one was traded (Martellus Bennett), and two more were released (Matt Slauson and Antrel Rolle).

For better or worse, the moves have transformed a team that won 11 games and lost 21 over the previous two seasons.

There is no mistaking that general manager Ryan Pace and Fox have made this their team, and it will be radically different from the one that started the 2015 season.

On offense, only two players who started the 2015 opener are expected to be in the same positions for the 2016 opener: quarterback Jay Cutler and tight end Zach Miller.

On defense, my best guess is that eight of the 11 starters will be different from a year ago. Only outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, cornerback Kyle Fuller and possibly safety Adrian Amos will make the starting lineup for two straight opening days.

The two-year roster churn has left just 18 players from the Phil Emery-Marc Trestman era who are still on the current 80-man roster, and only 10 have started games under both regimes.

The offensive line has been almost completely rebuilt. Kyle Long is the only returning starter from last year's opening-day lineup, and he'll be at a new position, moving back to right guard after one season at right tackle. Charles Leno, Emery's last draft pick, is projected to be back at left tackle, where the 2014 seventh-round selection started the final 13 games last year.

But all three interior spots appear to be up for grabs after Slauson's release. Veterans Manny Ramirez and Ted Larsen both have extensive starting experience at guard and center. Cody Whitehair, this year's second-round pick out of Kansas State, wasn't drafted that highly to remain on the bench for long. A guard in college, he could wind up at center, but probably only if 2015 third-round pick Hroniss Grasu fails to develop. Grasu was thrust into the lineup ahead of schedule and started eight games, but he needs to get bigger and stronger.

“Both Larsen and Ramirez are veteran guys who have starting experience who can play guard and center,” Pace said. “So it gives us flexibility inside. We were looking for that. So we're going to let it all sort out and battle it out.”

Both Pace and Fox believe the competition they have created will result in a better starting five, but there's likely a lot of mixing and matching before O-line coach Dave Magazu gets the puzzle figured out.

Behind whichever players coalesce into the starting unit, Cutler won't have 2014 Pro Bowl tight end Martellus Bennett and Matt Forte, the franchise's second-leading rusher of all time and the NFL record holder for single-season receptions by a running back.

Forte's replacements, Jeremy Langford, Ka'Deem Carey and fifth-round pick Jordan Howard, all bring different traits to the position, and it will be interesting to see how playing time is divvied up throughout the season. It's possible all three could be kept busy given Fox's fondness for the run game.

It's a given that last year's second-round pick, 12-game starter Eddie Goldman, will be at nose tackle, and free agent Akiem Hicks will be one of the ends in the base 3-4.

Competition for the other starting spot will be interesting. Ego Ferguson, a 2014 second-round pick, cracked the starting lineup in Week 5 last year but a season-ending knee injury sidelined him for the final 11 games. He will compete with 2014 third-round pick Will Sutton, a seven-game starter last season, and this year's third-round pick Jonathan Bullard.

“We got better,” Fox said of the D-line. “Whether it was in free agency or in the draft. But, until we get them out there, it's hard to predict.”

Behind the big guys, the starting inside linebackers will be Danny Trevathan and Jerrell Freeman, both of whom were acquired in free agency. On the outside, the Bears now have four linebackers who have shown the ability to bring pass-rush pressure, including the addition of first-round pick Leonard Floyd.

The OLB rotation is led by Pernell McPhee, the prize free-agent acquisition in 2015 who showed early the ability to be the focal point of the defense. But he faded in the second half when he was slowed by injuries. More production is expected this season.

The same might be said of Lamarr Houston, who led the Bears with 8 sacks, and Willie Young, who was second with 6 ½. Both players overcame serious 2014 injuries and played better in the second half of 2015.

While corner seems set with Kyle Fuller and Tracy Porter, the safety position and the nickel corner role are a free-for-all.

The Bears drafted three defensive backs who played safety last season: Deon Bush, Deiondre' Hall and DeAndre Houston-Carson. But Hall also started 24 at corner at Northern Iowa, and Houston-Carson was a starting corner his first three years at William & Mary before playing free safety as a senior.

They will provide plenty of competition for Adrian Amos, who started all 16 games last season after being drafted in the fifth round but isn't entrenched.

It should be an interesting training camp and preseason on both sides of the ball.

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