BOURBONNAIS, Ill.The Bears have put out their first official depth chart of 2012 going into Thursdays preseason opener at Soldier Field against the Denver Broncos.
"Official," but unlikely to be the final one by the time opening day arrives in September.
Chris Williams is listed as the No. 2 at both right and left tackle after the decision to install JMarcus Webb as the starter at left tackle. James Brown is listed as the No. 3 at left tackle and Cory Brandon No. 3 at right tackle and both have played well enough to represent a looming threat to Williams hold on his job.
Alshon Jeffery and Earl Bennett are the backups to Brandon Marshall and Devin Hester at wide receiver. Bennett has put in a lot of time as the slot receiver and the Bears are expected to use multiple three-receiver packages, meaning that Bennett and Jeffery will see extensive playing time.
The Bears are somewhat less committal on defense. Stephen Paea and Matt Toeaina are co-starters at nose tackle. Shea McClellin is co-backup at both defensive end spots, with Corey Wootton behind Israel Idonije, and with Chauncey Davis backing up Julius Peppers. At this point McClellin has failed to play consistently as strong as Wootton in particular, although his steps over the past two weeks has been noteworthy.
Curiously, Nick Roach is listed as the starter at strong-side linebacker but nowhere on the list of middle linebackers behind Brian Urlacher, even though Roach has taken all the No. 1 snaps in the last four practices missed by Urlacher. Dom DeCicco is the current No. 2 at middle linebacker, indicating that the Bears want to see what they have in DeCicco vs. knowing already that Roach is a solid alternative to Urlacher.