Former S&T standout Ashton Gronewold opened play in a Chicago Bears minicamp in Lake Forest, Ill. Friday.
Rain forced the 50 or so participants, including 12 draft picks and 10 undrafted free agents that have agreed to a contract with the Bears, inside on the first day of a three-day rookie camp.
Gronewold should get a good shot at impressing Chicago coaches, as the Bears are in need of help at wide receiver. They lost their top two receivers, Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad, to free agency, leaving not many targets in the cupboard for quarterbacks Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton.
Chicago signed free agents Brandon Lloyd and Marty Booker in the offseason to try to offset the losses. The Bears drafted Earl Bennett of Vanderbilt in the third round and Marcus Monk of Arkansas in the seventh round as well. They also signed Western Kentucky’s Curtis Hamilton, an undrafted free agent, to a contract.
“They don’t have a huge group of wide receivers under contract,” S&T head coach Kirby Cannon said. “They drafted a wide receiver from Vanderbilt who is very good, but they are not wide receiver heavy by any means. He should get a good opportunity, a good look. With Devin Hester, they aren’t in great need of a punt returner, but they do think he could help them out on special teams.
“The Bears were one of the teams most interested in Ashton.”
In a report released on the Chicago Bears’ official website, head coach Lovie Smith listed Bennett as one of the players that impressed him on the camp’s first day. But, it also said that Bennett had a few drops. The report indicated that Monk distinguished himself as well. There was no mention of Gronewold, but none of the other camp invitees without a contract were either.
