Bears WR Anderson helps his cause
Rumors of a possible Earl Bennett trade would increase wide receiver Joe Anderson's chances of making the Bears' final roster, but the first-year player from Texas Southern seems to be in great shape regardless.
He wasn't wasting energy worrying about his future heading into the preseason finale despite just 2 catches for 27 yards in the first three games.
“I can't take care of business upstairs and be on the field at the same time,” Anderson said. “What I can control is everything I do on that field, so that's my main objective to keep on doing what I've been doing and don't change nothing up.”
Anderson may be confident, but he's far from comfortable.
“You never want to get comfortable because you can get better every day,” he said. “I'm not going to say I'm proud about what I did yesterday because whatever I did yesterday, I try to be better today. That's the only way you can be successful. You see other successful guys around the league, they're great day in and day out. I'm not going to accept that. I'm not satisfied. I'm just going to keep pushing myself.”
Anderson was the offensive star of the first half Thursday night against the Browns with 4 catches for 64 yards, including a 5-yard TD.
Bursting bubble:
To the surprise of many, tight end Fendi Onobun survived the first cut, while tight ends Gabe Miller and Leonard Pope were trimmed from the roster, leaving Martellus Bennett, Steve Maneri and Kyle Adams at the top of the depth chart.
Onobun, a former college basketball player has shown excellent athleticism in practice, but that's been overshadowed by dropped passes in games.
“Fendi has had a very good camp (but) has been uncharacteristically inconsistent (catching) in the games,” Trestman said. “I think that is a fair assessment. We have seen things in practice that we haven't seen in the games.
“Does that mean we've lost confidence? No. He's just got to work through this phase when he gets under the lights that he can continue to play as consistently (as he does in practice), and I think he can do that down the road.”
It didn't happen against the Browns — at first. Onobun was flagged twice for holding in the first half, one of which was declined. He also dropped a potential first-down pass on an underthrown ball in the second quarter that was catchable. Onobun was targeted four times in the first half and had 2 catches for 8 yards.
But he flashed his speed when he picked up 20 yards on a short pass in the third quarter and two plays later made a nice catch for 17 yards.
All in the family:
First-year defensive lineman Aston Whiteside has had a lot of help making the transition from little Abilene Christian to the NFL, thanks to relatives in the league.
“It's been kind of big adjustment,” he said, “but I have a few relatives in the NFL from small schools and they gave me a lot of advice coming out last year, so it was kind of normal.”
The 6-foot-2, 265-pound Whiteside spent most of last season on the Bears' practice squad but is looking to crack the 53-man roster this year. He's gotten advice from cousins Bernard Scott, a running back with the Bengals, Rams running back Daryl Richardson and Jets wide receiver Clyde Gates, all of whom also played at Abilene.
“They told me, ‘Just do what you do. You've been doing this all your life,'” Whiteside said. “At the end of the day, it really don't matter what college you came from; we're all here together.”