Bears on the Chopping Block

It's roster-whittling time; who will stay and who will go?

It's almost 53-man roster time for the Bears, which means there are more than a few players with their Chicago futures up in the air.

The Bears real uncertainty is at the wide receiver position. That's what has a guy like Devin Aromashodu, someone you certainly hadn't heard of until this season, sent all his coaches flowers. Hey, whatever works, right?

Here are some other guys who may want to sniff out a bouquet or two.

Adrian Peterson. It seems weird to say this about Peterson, but Brad Biggs's post at the Chicago Sun-Times is dead on here: For all of the solid things Peterson brings a football team -- Bears fans will remember his filling in admirably for the oft-lost Cedric Benson -- when you have a running back like Matt Forte and backups like Kevin Jones and Garrett Wolfe, who brings more to the special teams than does Peterson, it's hard to find a spot for a just-solid guy. Peterson will need to be impressive in the Bears' final preseason game tonight if he wants to lengthen his Bears career.

• Again with the wide receivers. The Bears can only keep so many wideouts, and while guys like Aromashodu have distinguished themselves, players like Rashied Davis, never much of a contributor anyway, have completely fallen off the radar this offseason. The Bears only have one remaining wideout spot left. Jay Cutler has been vocal about his love for Aromashodu and silent about Davis; if we had to guess, Aromashodu (we have to get this guy a nickname, stat) will be the Bears' choice. (Brandon Rideau could factor in here too, despite his apparent lack of connection with Cutler.)

• Hunter Hillenmeyer. The former Vanderbilt grad has been a starting contributor for the Bears at outside linebacker before, and he's making $1.5 million this season. But he's also been injured for an entire year, and the clock on the Bears' patience seems to be running out. But Hillenmeyer should be a pretty sure bet: The Bears know he can contribute, he can serve as a backup for either of the three linebacker spots, and he plays a bit of special teams. What's not to like?

Trumaine McBride. If McBride is cut, he'll be the victim of two things: his own size--- dude is tiny --- and the Bears draft of D.J. Moore. But before a poor outing at Denver, McBride played extremely well against Buffalo. Flip a coin.

Henry Melton. Believe it or not, Melton is a rookie fourth-rounder converted from running back, where he played at Texas, to a defensive end. It hasn't gone well. But the Bears spent a fourth-round pick on Melton, and they're probably not going to get rid of him, but the fact that he's even in the conversation is not a good sign for one of the Bears' earlier 2009 draft picks.

Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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