Six Players Who Must Step Up.................

Carimi 1 of 6 Bears being counted on to step up

Davis, Wright also getting big opportunity

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August 9, 2011


Part of the Bears' offseason plan was leaving space for young draft choices to take on expanded roles. Here are the six players being counted on to step up.

Player, age, NFL year

Gabe Carimi, 23, first: By not signing a veteran tackle, the Bears cleared the path for Carimi to start on the right side.

Kellen Davis, 25, fourth: The Greg Olsen trade is expected to result in a more significant role for Davis.
Lance Louis, 26, third: The Bears had options and still have options at guard, but it appears Louis is a starter unless he plays himself out of the lineup.

Henry Melton, 24, second: He should be the biggest beneficiary of Tommie Harris' release.

Corey Wootton, 24, second: The team has not been desperate to sign a pass rusher because of their confidence in Wootton.

Major Wright, 23, second: Danieal Manning was allowed to leave in part so Wright could get on the field.



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Of the six these three are absolute musts. These guys have to play like 5 year vets.

1) Carimi: who else have we got?

2) Louis: if he doesn't step up it forces Garza out of OC and an underprepared Spencer in.

3) Wright: Conte isn't ready and Steltz can't play FS.

We can live with a little lesser performance from the others since we have some depth at those positions but they all need to play above their 2010 level at the very least.