The Bears added a tight end today. His name is Brandon Manumaleuna he almost immediately signed a five-year deal after he walked through the doors of Halas Hall. Manumaleuna spent the last four years in San Diego and before that was with Mike Martz and Lovie Smith in St. Louis. The 30 year old tight end was the best available tight end and Martz values the tight end as a blocker more than a receiver.

With the addition of  Manumaleuna he can now team up Greg Olsen, Dez Clark and Kellen Davis. Clark or Davis is the odd man out. Davis is still a project and not a very good blocker, Clark is a crafty veteran who for the first time in his Bears career was injured last season. Clark is owed a $475,000 today and will see if the addition of Manumaleuna spells the end of Clark. I think the Bears should keep Clark around at least for this season because he has been the most consistent player receiving and blocking.

The addition of the 6’2″, 295 pound Manumaleuna should really improve the Bears running game and offensive line, he is basically another blocker. Plus, the Bears play-by-play announcer Jeff Joniak should have saying his name and Devin Aromashodu’s at the same time.

Good start of free agency by the Bears, Julius Peppers and Chester Taylor will walk through Halas Hall later today hopefully they don’t they don’t leave without signing a contract.

Brandon Manumaleuna’s career stats:

Team Season Games Receptions Yards AVG TD
St. Louis 2001-02 16 1 1 1 1
St. Louis 2002-03 16 2 106 13.3 1
St. Louis 2003-04 16 29 238 8.2 2
St. Louis 2004-05 16 15 174 11.6 1
St. Louis 2005-06 14 13 129 9.9 1
San Diego 2006-07 16 14 91 6.5 3
San Diego 2007-08 16 10 86 8.6 1
San Diego 2008-09 16 15 127 8.5 2
San Diego 2009-10 16 5 13 2.6 0
142 110 965 8.8 12

Brandon Manumaleuna had this to say about joining the Bears:

“I played for Mike Martz (in St. Louis) and Lovie Smith was the defensive coordinator. It was a great situation, this team has a chance to be real successful. It was difficult (to leave San Diego). I had a lot of friends and it was close to home, but the business is what it is.”

All quotes from chicagotribune.com