Please comment on the chances of Canadian Andy Fantuz sticking with the Bears at all, even on the practice roster. It looks to me that the Bears are loading up on receivers. Does Andy even have a sniff of making it through training camp, let alone being on the team? He has great hands, a fair-sized body but is quite slow and is in his late 20s. He has never played one down on special teams. I have special interest in him because the Riders of the CFL could sure use him back as fast as possible. Gerry Hanke, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Too early to say about Fantuz. He has not stood out in the early going but there is a lot of time for him to make his mark. Fantuz is going to have to be a solid special-teams contributor to make it, though. The Bears probably will keep five receivers on their 53-man roster. Assuming all are healthy,
Johnny Knox,
Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Roy Williams are locks. Sam Hurd is a strong possibility because the fifth spot usually goes to a special-team ace. It looks to me like Fantuz mostly is competing with Hurd and
Dane Sanzenbacher at this point. If Fantuz does not make the 53, there is a chance the Bears will ask him to stick around on the practice team.
NFL teams almost always keep receivers on their practice teams because they need extra sets of legs to run routes during the week.
