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Drake pleased with progress of Bears' receivers

Eyebrows were raised Sunday when Mike Martz declared that the Bears' wide receivers would be a "strength of this team."

But it's exactly what wide receivers coach Darryl Drake, one of two holdovers on the offensive staff following the January purge, believes after his group was one of the bright spots on an underachiveing 2009 offense.

"You can put that in granite," Martz gushed about the receiving corps after the team wrapped up its three-day rookie minicamp. "There's not very many things I would say are unretractable, but that one is pretty strong. That's a terrific group.''

Drake feels the same way entering the sixth week of the club's voluntary offseason workout program, with the full-squad minicamp coming up May 21. The Bears have been doing work in the classroom and on the field as they install the new system, one that isn't easy to grasp.

"It's not. But they're going to be fine," Drake said. "Any time you are learning something new, it's a transition and it takes time. But the guys are willing to put in the time and they're going to be fine. They are right on schedule.

"Coach Martz is the master of putting guys in the best situation that they can be in to be successful. He knows and is learning the abilities and the limitations they have, understanding both sides of it.

"As far as them learning the offense, I've got very intelligent guys. Contrary to what people think, that myth came out a long time ago and I've really never understood it. Maybe because we have some black kids that are not articulate all the time, (people think) we're not very smart. But that is such a myth. I really don't understand why it has been said because those guys are as smart as any guys I have ever been around.

"I may get in trouble for saying what I said, but that's how I feel. I've never understood it. They are as smart and as intelligent as any guys I have been around."

Drake points out that the Bears tied for the fewest dropped passes in the league last season with 20. They were ninth in the league with 56 receptions of 20 or more yards. Devin Hester led Drake's group with 57 receptions for 757 yards and three touchdowns, numbers that would have been better had a calf muscle injury not forced him out of three games. Johnny Knox had 45 receptions and five touchdowns as a rookie and, after not playing as a rookie, Earl Bennett had 54 receptions for 717 yards.

The most exciting prospect of all might be the guy who finally got on the field at the end of the season, Devin Aromashodu. Drake is optimistic about Rashied Davis as an option on the inside, too. The team has yet to see what Juaquin Iglesias can do.

"Guys are always fighting for positions," Drake said. "But we know the guys who pretty much are going to be out there. People still want to talk about the receivers here. Nobody talks about the things they have done. All I hear about is the things people don't think they have done.

"Years ago, all I heard about around here was guys can't separate. Well, every time I hear that, it lets me know how much people don't understand the National Football League game. Because the only time you are going to get mass separation in the NFL is if somebody blows a coverage or it is a pure zone. Man-to-man, separation is a step. I have always heard we don't have guys who can get open. It just goes to show me people don't understand the game. But they listen to it and they've heard it."

Chewie wrote:Who's saying our receivers are unintelligent because they're inarticulate black guys exactly? As opposed to all the other NFL teams that have the well spoken Caucasian receivers, eh ?