Bears' strength? Martz talking up his receivers

Offensive coordinator Mike Martz knows one thing for sure about the 2010 Bears: The young wide receivers will make an impact.

For the most part, it's an inexperienced group, long on potential and game-breaking speed but so far short on consistent production.

Martz believes that will change this season.

"I love our receivers," Martz said at the conclusion of the weekend rookie minicamp at Halas Hall. "I think that our receiver corps will be the strength of this team.

"You can put that in granite. I can promise you that one.

"There's not very many things I would say are unretractable, but that one is pretty strong. This will be the strength of this football team. That's a terrific group."

And that's a pretty strong endorsement for a group that has never had a member catch more than 57 passes in a season, accumulate more than 757 receiving yards or score more than 5 receiving touchdowns.

As recently as one year ago, the group of Devin Hester (the old man of the group at 27), Earl Bennett (23), Johnny Knox (23) and Devin Aromashodu (25) had a total of nine NFL starts.

But Bennett emerged as a 54-catch, 717-yard receiver last season after not catching a single pass as a rookie in 2008.

Knox, a lightly regarded fifth-round pick from Abilene Christian, caught 45 passes for 527 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Hester was on pace for a 1,000-yard season and despite a late-season swoon still finished with career bests of 57 catches and 757 yards.

Aromashodu didn't get much of a chance until the final month of the season, but he responded with 20 catches for 282 yards and 4 touchdowns in the final four games.

The tight end position is a little more uncertain, but more so because of uncertainty about roles than lack of talent.

Former Rams and Chargers tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, the 6-foot-2, 295-pound road grader, was brought in as the extra offensive lineman that Martz needs in his scheme.

But talented pass-catching tight end Greg Olsen has become one of the Bears' more potent offensive weapons, and Desmond Clark still is a solid two-way performer, more than capable as a blocker and receiver, as he enters his 12th season.

Martz generally has not made the tight end an integral part of his explosive passing attacks, and if Olsen is to remain a factor in the offense, he will have to block. If he can do that, Martz says he will find a way to use Olsen in the offense.

"Good players at any position, you find a way to get them the ball," Martz said. "You take advantage of their strength.

"This is a system that allows you to bend to what you have. When you get a guy like Greg, he has to get grounded in the running game, obviously. But there are some things we'll do with him that we haven't been able to do before.

"It's exciting for me because as a coach you get the chance to explore some different avenues, plus you can have him on the field where he's almost a third receiver on first down. It's unlimited."

But any tight end in Martz's offense has to be able to block first before he becomes a part of the passing game.

"Before you even go there, you have to get down to the basics of putting your hand on the ground, coming off the ball and sustaining a block," Martz said. "And if a tight end can't do that, you've got to wonder. And (Olsen) can certainly do that.

"He's proven he can do that. We've just got to get him involved in that. It's easy for him to get into the passing game. He's certainly capable of putting his hand on the ground and throwing a good block."

He will have to be if he wants to get the ball in Martz's offense.