Free at last!

With the Bears dealing from behind a $17 million to $20 million salary cap surplus, the pending start of the 2006 free agency period has got me all excited. When you team has money to burn and your competitors are strapped, all sorts of good things can happen.

But it says here that good things won't necessarily happen if the Bears go out and sign Chicagoland native Antwaan Randle El.

Randle El is a good football player, a Super Bowl Champion and a dynamic receiver and return man. No disrespect is intended.

But he's a No. 2 receiver at best, and the team that signs him is going to be shelling out No. 1 WR money. Which is just one reason the Bears should pass.

The best reasons to pass on Randle El? Bernard Berrian, Mark Bradley and -- to a lesser extent -- Justin Gage. One of those guys is going to be a legitimate No. 2 WR for Chicago in 2006, and Bradley in particular flashed signs of future greatness. Note to Angelo: You've got a 5th, a 3rd and a 2nd invested in these guys, and so far you're getting a pretty good return on it. Stand pat.

Personally, I'd love to see Randle El returning kicks for the Bears -- I just don't want to see the team invest the kind of money that would cost, and I don't want to see him slowing the development of Bradley and Berrian, who are probably better NFL wide receivers.

So where should we spend the money?

Well, after re-signing and rewarding our own players, cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Nate Clements spring to mind, with Woodson particularly intriguing. He's a premiere athlete who -- despite his obvious talents -- has become an overpaid, underachieving, injury-prone luxury in Oakland.

But what if you put Woodson on a team where he didn't have to serve as an every-down, shut-down corner? What if you put him in a zone-heavy system that would allow him the freedom to take a few ball-hawking risks?
Signing Woodson would be expensive, but it would give the team three legitimate starters at cornerback -- which is where we would have been in 2005, had Jerry Azumah been able to stay healthy.

The pundits like to say that the only good free agent signings are four-and-five-year veterans who are rising talents, but this overlooks the essential fact of modern football: Everything is about roles and expectations.

Because Randle El fits the punditry profile, he'll make too much -- placing him in a leading role that does not suit him. Expectations will be too high, and he'll likely be deemed a disappointment.

But a talented team that is within its Super Bowl window (as Chicago is today) can go out and sign a relatively expensive veteran on the downslope of his career -- because by setting that veteran in a supporting role , expectations can be kept manageable. Chicago is balanced and deep -- which means it's in a great position to bring in veterans others avoid and make a quick push for a championship.

In other words, would a certifiable egotist like Woodson accept a supporting -- rather than starring -- role for a team like Chicago? Probably not. But after eight long years in Oakland, would the prospect of management sanity and a league title affect his thinking?

Again, probably not -- although a boy can dream...