Bears Steal Archuleta

A frustrating offseason finally yeilded some good news Wednesday when the Bears acquired Adam Archuleta from the Washington Redskins for a sixth round draft pick. Playing much of the year and throughout the playoffs with rookie Daniel Manning and second year pro Chris Harris at the two safety spots, a veteren safety was argueably the Bears biggest need.

Though he was considered a free agent bust for the Redskins- after recieving a 6 year 30 million dollar contract in the offseason, he didn't even get on the field in the second half- Archuleta should fit the Bears cover 2 defense perfectly. He started at safety for the Rams as a rookie in 2001 Super Bowl, a defense lead by Lovie Smith, and was a near pro bowl performer for St. Louis until he signed with Washington.

The move gives the Bears a of couple options. Archuleta would seem like a natural fit at strong safety, so veteren Mike Brown can move back to free safety, a position he played early in his career. If Brown continues to have injury problems, and he may not even be back for training camp after he tore his Lisfranc ligament in his right foot last season, then Manning, the teams first selection in last years draft, can play free safety.

If Brown and Archuleta are able to both be on the field at the same time, it would only bolster a Bears defense that showed signs of slowing down in the second half of 2006. That would also allow the Bears to experiment with moving Manning to cornerback. While it may not seem like a pressing issue right now, Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher are slated to become free agents after 2007. The Bears figure to sign one of them, most likely Tillman, but it's unlikely both would be resigned because the Bears don't like locking up alot of their salary cap space in one position.