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Angelo willing to roll the dice with DE Adams

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo admits it was a bit of a gamble to trade next year's second-round pick for defensive right end Gaines Adams, who disappointed in Tampa after being the fourth overall pick in 2007.

But it's a gamble Angelo is willing to take.

"The two marquee positions in our scheme are the 3 technique (Tommie Harris' under-tackle position) and the right end," Angelo said. "If we can recreate history with him, going back to my days in Tampa, when we brought in Simeon Rice, we had some success. That would be a 10 if something like that were to happen. He's a very good player, he fits what we want, and we thought the value was worth it, obviously."

Adams, who is in the third year of a six-year $46.8 million contract that included an $18 million signing bonus, never lived up to expectations in Tampa.

He had 6 sacks as a rookie and 61/2 the following season. But he had just 1 sack in five games under new head coach Raheem Morris, who changed the Bucs' Cover-2 scheme, and has been frequently referred to as a bust in the Bay Area.

"I've seen situations like that," Angelo said. "You get a few (new) position coaches, a scheme change, (he's the) fourth pick in the draft, (and he's not) living up to expectations.

"But we feel very strongly about our scheme, we feel very strongly about our coaches, we feel very strongly about the way we evaluate players. There's risks to a draft pick; there's risks to this. I'm just hoping he's coming in here wanting to be a great player, and if he is, I feel like we've got all the tools to facilitate him coming to fruition."

Bears defensive line coach Rod Marinelli had the same title with the Bucs when Rice came to Tampa and put up five straight seasons with at least 11 sacks.

Adams has a long way to go to approach that level.

He was inactive Sunday night, and is not expected to challenge starter Alex Brown for the starting job at right end, his best position. He is expected to be a contributor in the defensive end rotation and should make his strongest impact as a pass rusher.

"Obviously pass rush is what he does special," Angelo said. "When we look at defensive linemen, I've always said, 'We look at third down first. We don't look at first down, we look at third down - how he impacts our third down. That's how we draft them, that's the way we pay them. That will be as long as we're here ... that will be our posture."

Left end Adewale Ogunleye, who led the Bears with 41/2 sacks through four games, is in the final year of a six-year, $33.4 million contract.

Considering he will be 33 before training camp starts next year, the Bears aren't anxious to give him another similar contract.

Backup defensive end Mark Anderson is also in the final year of his contract.

"Was it a need," Angelo said. "Not really, and it wasn't an indictment on any player. I know from the business side of it with Mark (Anderson) and Wale (Ogunleye) are coming up at the end of the year, (but) that wasn't part of this either.

"I'm sure I didn't make any friends over this with the defensive line. But I like them all. I just feel that you can't have enough of them. Unlike the offensive line, you play a lot of the defensive linemen. We have a rotation. It's a pretty good rotation. He just hope (Adams) is another player who is going to add to the mix. It starts with the front."

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