Who's that guy?
While newly converted wide receiver Devin Hester and rookie Greg Olsen have been the offensive stars of training camp so far, they haven't caught the ball any better or more consistently than Mike Hass.
Mike Who?
Mike Hass. No. 83.
He spent last season on the practice squad when the Bears snapped him up after the Saints waived him, hoping to sneak him back onto their practice squad.
After eight days of practices, no one can recall Hass dropping a pass. Not in 11-on-11 team segments, seven-on-seven work or individual receiving drills. Still, with starters Muhsin Muhammad and Bernard Berrian ahead of him, plus Mark Bradley, Hester and Rashied Davis, Hass is competing with Drisan James, David Ball, Brandon Rideau and Timon Marshall for, at the most, one spot. He's the early leader based on his flawless hands and good size (6-feet-1, 206 pounds).
"I'm pleased, but I still have a ways to go learning some hot (reads) and protections and those types of thing," said Hass, whom the Saints took in the fifth round last year. "I just have to keep making plays. If I make enough plays, I'll open enough eyes, and good things will happen for me."
Hass was in a similar situation when he enrolled at Oregon State as a walk-on. The Portland, Ore., native won the 2005 Fred Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in the nation after catching 90 passes for 1,532 yards. He set school career records with 220 catches and 3,924 yards and became one of just 10 players in NCAA history with more than 1,000 receiving yards in three separate seasons.
But Hass doesn't have the flat-out speed of a Berrian or the freaky change-of-direction skills of a Hester.
He does, however, have a knack for never letting the ball hit the ground when it's thrown in his vicinity. Friday morning he made the latest of his growing number of eye-opening grabs, leaping to snag a bullet in heavy coverage from quarterback Kyle Orton.
"You've got to have guys ready, and right now I feel real comfortable with Mike going in there and doing what we need to get done," Bears receivers coach Darryl Drake said. "He's auditioning for a job each and every day, not only here, but if something were to happen, somewhere else. That's the thing that you have to realize ... that I think he realizes."
Hass knows the numbers are stacked against him. The Bears kept just five wideouts on the 53-man roster last season, and the fifth, Justin Gage, caught just 4 passes. But with Hester on the offensive side of the ball this year and a mainstay on special teams, the Bears might be able to afford an extra receiver. However it shakes out, Hass has to convince coaches they can't give him the ax.
"There are a lot of established guys here who have game experience and have made plays, so it's tough," Hass said. "Hopefully, I can do well enough where they don't want to cut me because they see what type of player I am.
"That's all I can do. I just go out here and do what I can every day and hopefully, when the cuts come around they're like, 'We can't cut this guy; we like him too much.'æ"
Hass has a size advantage on most of the wideout wannabes competing for a roster spot, and on a Bears receiving corps that includes three players under 190 pounds (Hester, Davis and Berrian), he'd add some bulk.
"There's no question he's a good football player," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "We'd love to have him, and hopefully it's going to work out that way. He's having a good camp."
Ultimately, it could come down to Hass' ability to contribute on special teams, always an advantage for non-starters.
"I try to do whatever I can there," he said. "I know that's important for a guy who wants to be a fifth or sixth receiver. You have to be able to contribute in that area."