Wootton moves on to Vikings

The Bears' top three defensive ends from Opening Day 2013 will all be in different places when training camps open in July.

Corey Wootton will be with the Minnesota Vikings after he signed a one-year deal Thursday for up to $2 million, with $1,5 million guaranteed and a chance to earn $500,000 in incentives.

Last week Julius Peppers signed with the Green Bay Packers after the Bears cut him in a salary cap move to save $10 million. Shea McClellin, the No. 3 defensive end at the start of last season, is still with the Bears, but he's now a linebacker.

The Bears have added two defensive ends in free agency, former Oakland Raider Lamarr Houston and ex-Detroit Lion Willie Young, and both are expected to be starters.

Wootton will be coming back from off-season hip surgery but expects to be healthy for training camp. Wootton had 7 sacks for the Bears in 2012 when he was strictly a defensive end. Last season, playing more snaps at tackle because of injuries to teammates, Wootton's sack total dipped to 3 ½.

The 6-foot-6, 270-pound four-year veteran was the Bears' fourth-round pick out of Northwestern in 2010 and played sparingly through his first two injury-plagued seasons.

Wootton's only sack in his first two seasons came against Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in 2010 in a game played at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium after the roof at the Metrodome collapsed under heavy snow. Favre suffered a concussion on the play that wound up being his last in the NFL, courtesy of Wootton.