Bears agree to 5 year deal with Fred Miller

By Hugo Guzman  |   Thursday, March 10, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Chicago Bears
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LAKE FOREST, Illinois - The Chicago Bears signed free agent T Fred Miller, trying to bolster an offensive line that allowed a franchise-record 66 sacks last season. Miller, a 6' 7", 320 lbs. 9 year veteran, played in every game for the Tennessee Titans the last 5 seasons at right tackle. He played for St. Louis from 1996-99.

Terms of the 5 year contract were not disclosed. Miller was a salary cap casualty with Tennessee, which cut him last month so he wouldn't count $9.32 million against the team's cap in 2005.

Adding Miller will allow the Bears to move starting right tackle John Tait to LT, a problem position for the team last year. "As we said going into free agency, we wanted to obviously address what we felt our needs were," Bears GM Jerry Angelo said Monday. "We targeted offense and we wanted to continue to build and add to that offensive group."

St. Louis drafted Miller in the fifth round in 1996. He has not missed a start since his 1998 season with the Rams and helped pave the way for 5 different 1,000-yard rushers over those 7 years. "(Bears fans) can expect a guy that's going to go out there and play full speed, going to run around and try to block guys all over the field, not just at the line of scrimmage but downfield," Miller said at his news conference. "I'm a guy that's going to get nasty, sometimes a little too nasty where I've been known to get a couple of personal fouls and some fines by the league."

The signing gives the Bears a largely veteran offensive line that includes 7 year veteran Tait, 8 year veteran center Olin Kreutz and 11 year veteran LG Ruben Brown.

Miller, who also had a chance to sign with New Orleans, said he thinks the experienced offensive line can help lead to a rapid turnaround from the Bears, who were 5-11 season last year. "I was with the Rams organization when we were 4-12 - absolutely horrible - and I think we had the worst odds to win the Super Bowl the next year and we did," he said. "And that's what I see in this organization, that we can turn this around within a year and win some football games and get into the playoffs."
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About Hugo Guzman

Co-founder of RealFootball365.com. Born in Argentina, of Dominican descent, living in Hoboken, but from Miami through and ...
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