Who's No. 1? Booker after rejoining Bears
The Miami Dolphins no longer considered nine-year Marty Booker a No. 1 wide receiver when they cut him last month, but he could revisit that role with the Bears.
Booker, who set the Bears' single-season franchise record of 100 receptions in 2001, re-signed Monday night for $3.5 million over two years with the team that drafted him in the third round out of Louisiana-Monroe in 1999.
Booker caught 50 passes last season, but his 556 receiving yards were his fewest since his second season with the Bears. Still, he caught exactly as many passes in his second-best season with the Bears (97 in 2002) as the rest of the Bears' wide receiver corps -- Mark Bradley, Devin Hester, Rashied Davis and Mike Hass -- have caught in their combined NFL careers.
That makes Booker, who turns 32 on July 31, No. 1 by default, even though he isn't the same receiver as he was in 2001 and '02, when he caught a combined 197 passes for 2,260 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Booker lacks the speed of Hester and Bradley, but at 6 feet and 210 pounds, he provides a tough, physical presence lacking since Muhsin Muhammad was released late last month.
Booker's drop in production in Miami is partly attributable to the Dolphins' offensive woes. They were No. 28 in the NFL last season in total offense and No. 29 in scoring a year earlier, alternating Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington, Cleo Lemon, John Beck and Trent Green in a Bears-like carousel of ineffective quarterbacks.
Two years after the Bears awarded Booker a seven-year, $28 million contract following his breakout season of '01, they traded him, along with a third-round pick, to the Dolphins for defensive end Adewale Ogunleye.
Booker had one year left on that deal when he was released by the Dolphins, who have been cleaning house under new head of football operations Bill Parcells.
After five seasons with the Bears, Booker was fifth in team history with 315 catches and sixth with 3,684 receiving yards. He has 509 career receptions for 6,311 yards and 34 touchdowns.