Even Jay Cutler was traded, Lovie Smith said, so by all means anything could happen with Greg Olsen during the NFL draft.
But the Bears coach did his best to downplay speculation Tuesday that the organization could dangle the tight end, a first-round pick in 2007, in efforts to move into the second round of the draft.
"Greg Olsen working hard, doing a great job for us," Smith said. "I know our offensive guys are excited about working with him. I guess there could be speculation that we are going to trade Lance Briggs and Jay was traded last year so maybe he could get traded this year too. I can't get into speculation."
Maybe that's not the best example. The Bears thought they had a trade done that would have sent Briggs to the 49ers in 2007 but the 49ers backed out, a move that eventually led to tampering chargers sticking against them.
But Smith's point was he believes Olsen has a place in the offense and he doesn't see a problem with the team carrying four tight ends in free-agent pickup Brandon Manumaleuna, veteran Desmond Clark, Kellen Davis and Olsen.
"When you say tight ends, I wouldn't label all of our guys as a tight end," Smith said. "Tight end? Fullback? Jason McKie isn't here anymore. They can do other things."
If the Bears don't move up in the draft, they will have the 75th overall pick, the 11th of the third round. Safety has been the position mentioned most, but the team could consider cornerbacks and offensive linemen.
"I am very excited about the draft," Smith said. "I know we don't have a one and a two and all that but we have done well in the third round on. We are going to get some players that should have a chance to contribute for us. When you (start ) in the third round, you feel like you have to do more research on the guys. So we feel like we are prepared.
"We have talked about safety in the past. But not just safety, defensive back as a whole, offensive line you can make a case for. We probably won't take a linebacker with the first pick or a defensive lineman, but you never know."
New offensive coordinator Mike Martz said he has been pleased with Olsen's limited work on the field with the club in its fourth week of its offseason program.
"If there's a player who can't fit a system then something is wrong — if he's a good player — with the system," Martz said. "Our deal is we will give everybody an opportunity to find who they are and how they'll contribute. Everybody will get that opportunity. Greg will too. He has learned things very quickly, I'm very pleased with just the few things that we've done on the field. I'm not disappointed.
"He needs to get grounded in blocking. He knows that. We told him that. It's hard to run the ball, guys, if you don't have a tight end who's going to be on the edge over there. We have a number of tight ends because we anticipate being able to run very well when we want to run."
