CHICAGO (AP) -Desmond Clark realizes his days as the Chicago Bears’ starting tight end could be winding down. Even so, he plans to stick around a few more years.
“I’m just happy that Chicago was able to get it done for me,” Clark said Monday on a conference call, one day after agreeing to a two-year extension that runs through the 2010 season.
Over the past two years, Clark has averaged 13.2 yards per catch – most among NFL tight ends.
He was third on the team with 44 receptions for 545 yards and four touchdowns last season, giving him 15 in five years with Chicago – second to Mike Ditka (34) among Bears’ tight ends. With Clark and Greg Olsen, who caught 39 passes for 391 yards as a rookie, the Bears figure to use more two tight-end sets.
Clark “would like to think so,” at least.
“I haven’t been given any word of which direction they want to go,” Clark said. “The one thing I know is they expect Greg to eventually – in the next one, two, three years – get into that starting role. But that has a lot to do with Greg’s development.”
The early indications on Olsen were promising.
“Greg was a guy that came in with the right attitude,” Clark said. “He wanted to work. He wanted to learn. He wanted to come in and help us win. That’s all you can ask from a guy that’s coming in, especially a first-rounder.”
Clark, who has 262 catches for 3,067 yards and 24 touchdowns in nine seasons, got the extension one day after the Bears re-signed Rex Grossman to a one-year contract and said he would compete for the starting quarterback job with Kyle Orton.
“We really can’t be focused in on what the quarterback situation is doing because if we start worrying about what they’re doing, then it’s going to take away from our production,” Clark said.
The Bears also gave defensive end Alex Brown a two-year contract extension last week while letting former Pro Bowl wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, veteran offensive tackle Fred Miller and defensive tackle Darwin Walker go.
The Bears still have work to do on the free-agent front. Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs, leading-receiver Bernard Berrian and Pro Bowl special teams player Brendon Ayanbadejo are headed for free agency.
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