Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett has still not showed up for organized team activities.
Bennett is on the hunt for a new contract despite having two years left on his exiting deal. The veteran TE informed the Bears that he would be absent for the voluntary offseason program. He is slated to earn a base salary of $4.9 million this season but is likely looking to be paid as top 10 TE. That would put his annual average salary somewhere north of $7 million.
Chicago will be able to fine Bennett if he misses mandatory minicamp later this month. New Bears head coach John Fox said Wednesday that he does not know what Bennett's plans are.
"I can't predict what those intentions are," Fox said. "I'd prefer him to be here and now we'll put all of our energy and focus on the guys that are.
"As I said before, this [except for mandatory minicamp] is voluntary, it's not going to change for the rest of this offseason. So you'll have to ask him that. I just know we've got a lot of guys out here working really hard to get better."
Aside from Bennett, Fox has said he's been impressed with the tight end group this offseason. That will be important for quarterback Jay Cutler, who is coming off a somewhat disappointing season and is on thin ice with this new administration.
"They've done a good job," Fox said of the TEs. "I think there's a long list of them. But they've done a good job of learning the system both in the pass game and in the run game. I like what I have seen. There's some young guys there that, you know, some people may not have heard of. I think Bear [Pascoe] is probably the most veteran guy in that group. But they're working at it and they do a good job with it."
Along with Bennett and Pascoe, the Bears also have Zach Miller and Dante Rosario at the position.
