The Chicago Bears enter the 2012 off-season with 53 players signed or under contract for the next season. Bears general manager Phil Emery has just one decision to make on a restricted free agent.

Thirteen players are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents, including running back Matt Forte, who is expected to receive the franchise tag if a long-term extension is not reached.

Restricted Free Agents (1)

RB Kahlil Bell

Unrestricted Free Agents (13)

QB Caleb Hanie
QB Josh McCown
RB Matt Forte
WR Roy Williams
TE Kellen Davis
DE Israel Idonije
DT Amobi Okoye
CB Zack Bowman
CB Corey Graham
CB Tim Jennings
S Brandon Meriweather (cannot be franchised)
S Craig Steltz
LS Chris Massey

Bears running back Matt Forte told the “Waddle & Silvy” program on ESPN 1000 in Chicago that he’s okay with receiving the franchise tag if that leads to a long-term contract.

“It depends on the motive of (the franchise tag),” Forte said on Thursday. “If they are doing the franchise tag just to get more time in order to negotiate a long-term deal then I would be okay with it. But if it’s just to hold me another year and just ‘Let’s throw some money at him right now to keep him quiet,’ that’s not going to solve anything.” The Bears have no intention of letting Forte depart via free agency, but have been unable to reach agreement on a long-term contract.

The Bears were reportedly offering a contract that included $13 to $14 million in guaranteed money, while Forte’s camp was looking at guaranteed money of over $20 million. The running back franchise tender is projected to be worth around $8 million in 2012.

A revamped Illinois Sports Facilities Authority board tabled a measure Wednesday that would approve a $2.6 million payment to the Chicago Park District for improvements to Soldier Field after members decided to review the relationship between the two agencies, including the subsidies the agency is required to give to the district. The funding is required as part of a deal for stadium renovations completed in 2003. The other annual subsidy is for maintenance, projected at $4.4 million this year. Both increase by 3 percent annually independently of the authority’s revenue and do not reach a maximum, ISFA officials said Wednesday. Board members meeting for just the second time expressed concern about the open-ended arrangement and how the authority doesn’t receive revenue from Soldier Field events.

The camp offers overnight and day camp options and will be held at Benedictine University, in Lisle, IL, and will feature former Chicago Bears defensive end, Alex Brown, and current Chicago Bears Center, Roberto Garza. The camp is designed for players ages 7 to 18 and will feature daily instruction, lectures, and demonstrations by Brown and Garza and/or members of the Chicago Bears. The college and high school coaches on staff will ensure individual and team instruction on both offense and defense.

Football newcomers and seasoned players alike will also experience teamwork, self-discipline, selecting the correct role models, and how to attain their sports and life potential. Even though this is not an “autograph camp,” members of the Bears will be available for autographs.

“The goal of the camp and instructors is to maximize the potential of each young player while giving them an experience they will never forget,” says Brown.

Alex Brown played in 127 straight games with the Bears, Brown played in every game for New Orleans in the 2010 season, making 39 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. Alex Brown will be inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a “Gator Great” in the Spring of 2012.

As for Roberto Garza, he was signed by the Bears in 2005, and after starting at guard, he moved into the center position in 2011, starting all 16 games there. Garza has started in 101 games and has eight starts in the postseason, including the Super Bowl during the 2005 season.

“The camp works the fundamentals of the game. The skills presented here give the players a head start to the season,” says Garza.

Obtain more information and request a camp brochure that includes an application by calling 301-575-9400, or by visiting www.footballcamps.com. Space in the football camp is limited and registrations will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.

Ruskell, 55, joined the Bears as their Director of Player Personnel in 2010 after serving as the Seattle Seahawks general manager from 2005 through his exit late in the 2009 season when the Seahawks informed him that his contract was not going to be extended.

Ruskell and former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo worked together in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ front office from 1987 through 2001. Ruskell had been serving as the team’s interim general manager following the firing of Angelo and had been an in-house candidate for the full-time position.

The Bears have hired Phil Emery to replace Angelo and will introduce him at a Monday afternoon press conference at Halas Hall.

Hillenmeyer was set to earn $1.8 million in base salary this season and, under the collective bargaining agreement, he was entitled to an injury benefit of up to 50 percent of that salary. Former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo and current general counsel Cliff Stein have denied that request, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reports.

Hillenmeyer believes the Bears are following orders from the NFL office.

“I was told by the Bears’ own independent neuro-psych doctor that I could not continue playing football,” Hillenmeyer said. “Just to be sure I was covering all my bases, I went to see (Dr. Robert) Cantu. He gave the same diagnosis: No more football.

“I filed the paperwork thinking it was a pretty open-and-shut deal. Now, I can’t point the finger directly at Cliff or Jerry because they might have just been following orders from the (NFL Management Council), but they could have just agreed to the claim and it would have been done.”

Hillenmeyer has filed a grievance against the Bears and the NFL. He’s not the only one fighting the league for benefits and salary. Cincinnati Bengals tight end Ben Utecht has a similar grievance case and Biggs reports the NFLPA has informed agents that multiple teams have denied players’ claims. Two teams, the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins, are attempting to have players with concussion histories sign injury waivers in regards to head injuries.

The NFL has paid lip service to raising concussion awareness and prevention, but all of that is empty talk if the league ignores or is slow to provide the financial assistance that players sent to an early retirement by head injuries are entitled to.

The Chicago Bears announced that Kansas City Chiefs Director of College Scouting Phil Emery has been named their general manager.

Emery replaces Jerry Angelo, who was fired after the 2011 season, and will officially be introduced on Monday.

After coaching at the college level from 1981-98, Emery joined the Bears scouting department. After seven years as an area scout, Emery spent five seasons as the Director of College Scouting for the Atlanta Falcons and has been with the Chiefs for the last three seasons.

New England Patriots Director of Pro Personnel Jason Licht, New York Giants Director of College Scouting Marc Ross, San Diego Chargers Director of Player Personnel Jimmy Raye and Bears Director of Player Personnel/interim general manager Tim Ruskell were also candidates. Emery and Licht were the finalists for the position and each had a second interview at Halas Hall late this week.

According to Biggs, Olson is the only candidate to interview for the position, but chose the Jaguars’ offer, which included a longer term (three years compared to the Bears’ two-year offer) and the additional title of “assistant head coach”. The Bears’ search for a quarterbacks coach will continue next week.

Flush with salary cap room after the lockout, the Chicago Bears biggest free agent acquisition in 2011 was punter Adam Podlesh as they worked towards a long-term contract with running back Matt Forte. No deal between Forte and Bears materialized, and in late October, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reported that they Bears had over $18 million in salary cap space remaining that was likely to be used on contract extensions players other than Forte.

About half ($9.1 million) of that $18 million-plus in cap space went towards extensions for wide receiver Earl Bennett and offensive linemen Roberto Garza and Edwin Williams.

Less than a week after Biggs’ report, the Bears signed center Roberto Garza to a two-year, $6.25 million extension. That extension increased Garza’s 2011 base salary from a rate of $2.175 million to $7.086 million for the final nine weeks of the season, a net increase of $2.6 million in both base salary and cap dollars. That still left the Bears with over $15 million of cap space for 2011, as ProFootballTalk.com reported in the middle of November.

The following month, the Bears extended the contracts of Bennett and Williams.

However, according to a league source, the Bears included language that gives Bennett and Williams the right to terminate their contracts in any year

Chiefs director of college scouting Phil Emery and Patriots director of pro personnel Jason Licht are scheduled to interview at Halas Hall over the next two days. The order of the interviews is unknown.

The reason for the lull in the process is both men had other responsibilities this week with Senior Bowl practices being held in Mobile, Ala., and the Patriots preparing to face the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Emery and Licht are finalists for the job. Both interviewed last week, and were the only candidates out of five asked back for second interviews.