In the second of nine position previews in advance of training camp, Tim Spencer discusses Bears running backs:

How ready is Cedric Benson to assume the feature back role?

He’s ready, both mentally and physically. He worked his tail off this offseason to try to be that back that everybody wants him to be and the type of player that he wants to be. Things didn’t happen exactly the way he wanted them to early in terms of playing. But I think that even though it was difficult for him at times, he’s learned a little bit about what it takes in terms of the effort and preparation that’s involved in order to be at that top spot. I look forward to him having a great year. There’s not that pressure of who’s going to be “the guy,” so he doesn’t have to worry about that. He’s comfortable. He knows he’s going to be the guy and he’s taken off.

Running back Cedric Benson was selected by the Bears with the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft.

Cedric is a throwback sort of guy in that he gets better the more times he gets the ball in his hands no matter whether we throw it to him or he’s running out of the backfield. He likes a lot of touches. He gets warmed up. He’s fit and he’s ready to go.

What impressed you most about Cedric during offseason workouts?

It started out when we started our drill work. You could see right away with his great effort in terms of how he was working to get his feet right and to get his body and his hips and everything else in the proper position. I knew right away that he was ready to go. He was on a mission and he fit right in with the rest of the guys on our team. Our guys are pros. They practice hard. We have fun, but when we’re on the field we work and he slid right in.

Cedric has had some injury problems. How concerned are you about his durability?

I’m not really concerned because you really can’t control that. He’s prepared well. He’s done everything that [strength and conditioning coordinator] Rusty Jones has asked him to do. He’s going to go out there and let it go. You can’t go out there and think about those things. Injuries are going to happen. If something happens, then we’ll just have somebody else step in there. But I think he’ll be all right. I’m not thinking about that. I know it’s a long haul. I know he’s a guy who likes to get the ball in his hands a lot, but we’ll have to temper some of that. We would like to have him for the whole season.

How much of a luxury is it to have someone as talented as Adrian Peterson as a backup?

I trust Adrian. I rust him because he works hard. He’s always worked hard. Every time he’s been in there, he’s done a great job for us. Whether we ask him to block, catch passes—whatever we ask him to do—he’s a solid player. You know what you’re going to get. I feel very comfortable about putting him in there. I don’t feel like there’s any drop-off whatsoever. He’s a pro.

How did rookie Garrett Wolfe perform in offseason workouts?

The young guy is a young guy no doubt. He struggled a little bit with a lot of the terminology and some of the things that are going on a lot like maybe Cedric did earlier on because in various formations you’re different people. So you could be the “F” one time, you could be the “H” another. You’ve just got to realize what the personnel is and then kind of go from there. He struggled with that a little bit, but when he’s locked in, when he knows what he has to do, he’s pretty darn quick.

What are your impressions of Garrett’s ability and what type of role will he fill this year?

He’s elusive, he’s fast and he’s quick. Guys make jokes all the time about his size, but it doesn’t bother me because he’s so strong. He’s got almost 200 pounds on a 5-7 frame, so he’s pretty solid and you can’t hit what you can’t see. He has a good work ethic. He gets down the field. He just needs reps. That’s what’s going to get him better, so hopefully this training camp we’ll get him a lot of reps. We’ll get him a lot of reps in the preseason so that our comfort level with what he knows will be a lot better. I feel that he’ll give us a nice little change-up in there. We’ll put him in there on first down, second down and third down. We won’t have any problem putting him in there because he’s tough.

How would you evaluate your top three running backs as a group?

They give us a little bit of everything. We’ve got power when we need it. We’ve got elusiveness. We’ve got speed. Cedric is a lot faster than people think. He’s pretty quick for a big back. He’s got very fast football speed. I feel very good about Adrian’s elusiveness and trust that he’s going to get things done, and I think that Garrett will be fine for what we’re going to ask him to do. We’ll have some special things for him. He can be an every-down back in this league. I don’t know if you’d want to give him the ball 30 times a game, but we will certainly get our money’s worth out of him.