Receivers Marshall, Burress enticing to Bears

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - At least for now, the Chicago Bears are ready to go to training camp with the wide receivers on their roster to complement new quarterback Jay Cutler.

However, former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress and disgruntled Denver Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall are intriguing possibilities for the Bears.

"We keep all of our options open," Bears coach Lovie Smith said Wednesday following the team's final voluntary offseason workout. 

"We're constantly evaluating all the players who are out there. But I feel good about our team that we have right now and I feel good about the receivers we have right now."

Marshall, who caught 102 and 104 passes the past two seasons while Cutler was Broncos quarterback, has asked Denver for a trade. Burress is a free agent after being waived by the New York Giants.

The Bears used Devin Hester, second-year wide receiver Earl Bennett and sometimes Rashied Davis and Brandon Rideau with the starting wide receiver corps throughout their organized team activities.

Acquiring a No. 1 wide receiver would seem a natural move since Hester is by far the most accomplished of their receivers and has only played the position full time for one season.

"I think we've got one," Cutler said about No. 1 receivers. "I think we've got one in Devin, and I think Earl is going to be dangerous on the back side as well."

Smith wanted nothing to do with talk about trading for Marshall, and said the team hasn't talked to the Broncos.

"No and I'm not even going to talk about a player that's with someone else right now," he said.

Cutler said he hasn't spoken to Marshall and hasn't talked to the Bears about Marshall.

"He's a great player, Brandon is, and I played with him for three years, put up a lot of big numbers with him and wherever he ends up, obviously he's going to be successful," Cutler added. "Whether or not it's here, that's up to the guys upstairs."

Cutler also said that he expected problems to develop between Marshall and the Broncos.

"I knew he was going to be unhappy if he didn't get a new contract," Cutler said. "I think that's kind of the basis of the whole issue with him, is getting a new contract and, you know, if you look at it from his perspective, I can see where he's coming from.

"But it's one of those issues. Hopefully he'll get it worked out. If not, he's going to end up somewhere and he'll be productive."
As for Burress, Smith said "the door is never closed on anyone who's available."

"It's not like we're aggressively going after him but we evaluate everyone that we think will make our team better," he said.