The Bears hosted free agent tackle Orlando Pace and cornerback Ken Lucas on Monday. Both players were cut by their former teams for salary-cap reasons. Pace is rumored to be close to a deal with the Ravens, but the Bears could swoop in if negotiations fall through.

Michael Vick could receive interest from the Chicago Bears if he's reinstated by the NFL. "I would look at Michael like I look at every other prospect that's available: He goes back into the pool," Bears coach Lovie Smith said in the article. "That's what everyone in society does. Martha Stewart went to prison. She paid her time. Now she's back in society. "Mike made a mistake, and he's paying the price for that mistake. Once you've paid your debt to society, you have to say, 'OK, let's go on from there.' "

Yahoo! Sports reported Wednesday that the Bears have reached out to the Broncos about Jay Cutler, who has requested a trade. The extent of that discussion is unknown. Jerry Angelo said after last season that he was "fixated" on the position "I do not comment on players who are under contract with other teams," Angelo said Wednesday. The New York Jets, Tampa Bay (where Cutler was headed in the rumored three-team deal), Minnesota and Detroit also are reported to have had interest in Cutler.

The Bears have reached an agreement with free-agent safety Glenn Earl, who hasn't played in the NFL the past two seasons. Earl will sign a one-year contract, believed to be worth the veteran's minimum of $620,000.

The Chicago Bears re-signed cornerback Marcus Hamilton to a one-year contract on Thursday. Hamilton played for both Tampa Bay and Chicago during the 2008 season.

Running back Kevin Jones agreed to a two-year deal Friday to remain with the Bears, according to an Associated Press report. Jones, a first-round pick of the Lions in 2004, had 34 carries for 109 yards last season, his first with Chicago.

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo was interested in wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, but felt as though the Seahawks paid too much. "Houshmandzadeh is a fine receiver," Angelo said. "Would we have entertained him? Yes, but we wanted to see what his marketplace was. In this case, we felt like [what he received from the Seahawks] was an exorbitant amount of money. Remember, he was a No. 2 in Cincinnati. That's not to say that what Seattle did wasn't right for them; their situation is different in my mind than ours. They had an inordinate amount of injuries with receivers and they felt like they needed to get somebody that was established and healthy. "A lot of teams would have liked to have had Houshmandzadeh. But he's going to be 32 in '09 and the price that you're paying for that receiver we felt was very high. You have to look at economics when you look at players. Who doesn't want Houshmandzadeh? But you have to look at the economics: What are the implications to the cap going forward and what does that prevent us from doing in other areas within our team and/or in free agency?" Houshmandzadeh signed with the Seahawks for five years, $40 million with $15 million guaranteed.

Safety Darren Sharper visited with the Saints on Monday, but the Bears are still very high on his list. "The visit [to New Orleans] went really well, and I should know something by the end of the week," Sharper said Wednesday. "My agent [Joel Segal] is in discussions with [the Saints and Bears]." Sharper doesn't have a trip lined up to Chicago, but admitted that he could still sign with the Bears sight unseen. "That's a possibility," he said. "I have been there before. I know the city. I know the players on the team."

A source on Monday night said that defensive end Jason Taylor has no interest in playing for the Bears. The Redskins released Taylor on Monday.