In the fourth of nine position previews in advance of training camp, coach Rob Boras discusses the Bears tight ends.
What impressed you most about the season that Greg Olsen
had last year?
It was just how he found his role in the offense and how he was able to build a rapport with Kyle [Orton]. We were able to create some mismatches and he took advantage of them.
It seems like Greg has already developed a rapport with Jay Cutler
. What have you seen from those two?
![]() Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark |
How valuable is Greg to the Bears offense in terms of his tremendous versatility?
Greg has a unique combination of size and speed, but he also has great football intelligence. It’s one thing to have those measurables, but not to be able to exploit them because you’re not able to handle the offense. He has the size, the speed and the intelligence for us to line him up anywhere in the offense, and hopefully within that we can create some mismatches and get him lined up against a safety or a linebacker and hopefully allow him to make some plays for us.
There’s been a lot written and said about how Greg is an ascending player with Pro Bowl potential. But Dez Clark is also a highly productive and important contributor. What type of role do you see him filling this year?
Desmond and Greg are both vital to the success of our offense. They’re good football players. They play consistent and they’re capable of making plays. There’s a lot mentioned about Greg, but Dez brings a consistency to us and a guy that you can rely on. He’s a pro, which I think is the ultimate compliment. His role like every player’s is going to be defined once we get through training camp and the preseason. It’s hard to define now, but I wouldn’t see his role varying a whole lot from what it’s been.
Is there a 1-2 punch in the NFL you’d rather work with than Dez and Greg?
I feel fortunate not only to have those two guys but the rest of the guys in the meeting room, too. They’re talented football players and I like the way that they prepare themselves mentally off the field as well. They’ve been everything that you could hope for to coach.
How did Kellen Davis
perform in OTAs?
Like everybody, he’s a work in progress. He’s getting better. It’s all about trying to find the consistency. Once you’re consistent, the quarterbacks, the coaches and everybody start to have trust in you. So like any young player it’s about trying to find a way to be consistent. There are still some ups and downs for him, but the biggest jump everyone always says is from your first year to your second, so we’re expecting him to make that big jump. If he can play with consistency, he’ll be a guy that can get on the field and hopefully make some plays for us.
What does Kellen do well and what does he need to work on?
He’s such a big body that he could be a red zone threat for us just because of his pure size. He has great straight-line speed. But one of the disadvantages being as tall as he is is that you play taller than everybody. So we’re working on his pad level in both the pass game and the run game. We would like him to develop into being a dominant blocker for us, so to be that he’s got to play with better pad level.
What have been your impressions of free-agent addition Michael Gaines?
I’ve been impressed with Michael since he’s gotten here. He’s tried to learn the offense as quickly as he can. He gives us some versatility as well because he can line up as a fullback for us as well as an inline blocker. He just has that mass. He’s got size to him. He’s probably the heaviest tight end we have. He could be both an inline blocker as well as a fullback for us.
