LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Senior writer Larry Mayer sits down with general manager Jerry Angelo to discuss the most pressing issues involving the Bears every Wednesday exclusively on ChicagoBears.com.

This feature will provide you with inside information directly from Jerry that you can’t get anywhere else. Jerry will candidly discuss relevant issues affecting the Bears that fans are most interested in.

Because of their faith in Earl Bennett and other young receivers, the Bears weren't interested in Chris Chambers when he was waived this week.

LM: I see that wide receiver Chris Chambers was claimed by the Chiefs after he was waived by the Chargers. Would the Bears have had any interest in him had he cleared waivers?

JA: No, we wouldn’t have been interested in Chris. We like our receivers. When you bring a veteran like Chambers in, you have to have an immediate plan for him. We only dress four receivers as a rule on game day and Rashied Davis is our fourth who does a great job for us as a special-teamer. Now who are we going to sit: Earl [Bennett], Devin [Hester] or Johnny [Knox]? It doesn’t make sense to sit them because of their play and continued development also. In most cases, a player you bring in at this point is not going to have the familiarity they need with your system to help your football team right now.

LM: Having traded away your first two 2010 draft picks for Jay Cutler and Gaines Adams, are you concerned that you won’t be able to infuse youth at certain positions?

JA: We feel real good about our roster now. We have a lot of good young players that are continuing to develop. Look at our wide receivers; we’ve got a couple of real good rookies that we like, Earl is still a young player, and Devin is still new to the position. At tight end, Greg [Olsen] and Kellen Davis are young players. We have some young offensive linemen on the roster and the practice squad that we’re developing. Chris Williams is in his first year as a starter. We have Al Afalava and D.J. Moore in the secondary, and Jarron Gilbert, Henry Melton and Nick Roach as well. We have a lot of young players who are developing. We have a good base of young up and upcoming players. And when we made the trades, we acquired young players in Jay Cutler and Gaines Adams, both of whom are 26 years old.

LM: Why haven’t you put linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa on injured reserve following his season-ending knee surgery and signed someone from the practice squad or a street free agent?

JA: The reason we haven’t made that move is because if we put somebody in that spot, we want them to dress on Sunday. And nobody that we would add right now—either through a promotion from the practice squad or somebody we would bring in that’s presently on the street—would be playing for us on Sunday. So really from a business standpoint it doesn’t make any sense. [Moving forward], if there’s a player that’s released that we feel could possibly compete for a starting spot next year, we’d entertain that.  

LM: During the season, how actively do you look to sign players to your 53-man roster that are on other teams’ practice squads or are street free agents?

JA: Very actively. I think we’ve got a very good track record of doing that. We are looking for players all the time that fit what we do to create more competition at positions. To me, we do that as well as anybody. We are always actively looking at bringing players on board. But you can’t do it as a revolving door. If you bring a player in, it’s because you saw something—what he did in college or in the NFL. When you bring him in, there’s got to be a plan for him. These aren’t auditions. We want to bring them in, and further their development. So there has to be a plan. We just don’t pick guys up randomly, bring them in for a couple weeks and then send then down the road. We don’t operate that way. It’s not about collecting talent, it’s about finding players that fit what we do and feel we can win with.