Bears tight end Greg Olsen is hopeful of receiving a contract extension with the team. Olsen's contract will expire after the 2011 season. He finished fourth on the team in receptions with 41 and tied Johnny Knox for the team lead with five touchdown catches. Chicago offensive coordinator Mike Martz envisions a bigger role for Olsen moving forward. "I've said, since the day I got here, that I'm very happy here," Olsen said. "I'm very happy here. I feel like I've had a good four years and have really enjoyed my time. "I know there's a lot that goes into (an extension), with the situation with the labor agreement or what not. I would love to have that security and be here for a long time. There are a lot of things right now kind of out of all of our hands. We've got to let it play out. Once we get all this situated and get to free agency and all of that out of the way, we'll see what happens."

Bears linebacker Nick Roach is still concerned about the danger surrounding kickoffs in the NFL. "I think the most dangerous thing on a kickoff isn't the distance you have to cover, it's the type of blocks that are allowed on the kickoff return team," Roach said. "You'll see a lot of trap blocks, where say I'm the third guy running down from the sideline on the right side -- running down the field and thinking nobody is blocking me because I see a wedge forming in front of me about twenty yards away. But then a guy on the kickoff return team will come from across the field, the complete other side, to blindside me from my inside out. "Those are by far the most dangerous hits. It's just like a complete blindside shot when you are wide open running down the field in a total sprint. You never see that coming and they totally take you off your feet sometimes." The linebacker suffered a concussion covering a kickoff during Chicago's first preseason game of the 2009 season in Buffalo. NFL owners voted Tuesday to move kickoffs up to the 35-yard line starting next season to increase the number of touchbacks and decrease the number of injuries on kick returns. Under the new rules, coverage players are only allowed to take a five-yard running start -- compared to a 10-to-15-yard head start under the old rules -- before the kicker makes contact with the ball.

Bears coach Lovie Smith defended the toughness of quarterback Jay Cutler yet again on Tuesday. "I don't think any player should have to go through that because it wasn't warranted at all," Smith told The Chicago Sun-Times. "He was injured; he couldn't play. It's an insult for us to answer the questions on whether he's tough." Cutler left the NFC Championship Game after one second-half series because of a Grade II sprain of a knee ligament. That Cutler left the game under his own power helped spark the following firestorm of pundits and fans questioning the quarterback's toughness.

Bears coach Lovie Smith says Jay Cutler is ready to go. Smith said he spoke with Cutler prior to the quarterback's recent trip to Kenya and described him as being in good spirits and "excited" about the prospect of returning to the field to orchestrate Mike Martz's high-powered system with a year of experience at his disposal. "We didn't come out and check the body or nothing like that, but he's fine," Smith said. "I talked to Jay just before he went on his trip to Africa. His spirits are high, in a good mood, you know. [He's] excited about everything. "It's an insult for us to even answer the questions whether he's tough. It's no issue. As far as Jay coming back, Jay's fine. I have talked to him, not of course lengthy, [but] since the season. He's fine and can't wait to come back and for us to finish the job this year."

Like a number of others, Devin Hester and the Bears are against big-time changes in the NFL's kick-off rules. The NFL Competition Committee met Monday to propose a host of rules changes, one of which is a plan to move kickoffs up to the 35-yard line from the 30. The theory is that the shorter distance will lead to more touchbacks, which will cut down on the violent impacts that lead to injuries for special-teams players. "I see the NFL is trying to take the kickoff game out," Hester tweeted Sunday. "They already punt out of bounds. What's next?" The 28-year-old has an NFL-record 14 kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns since entering the league in 2006. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo told the Chicago Sun-Times that the opposition to the potential change goes beyond his team's interests. "It's not just because of Devin Hester," Angelo said. "It's because it's one of the most exciting plays in football."

Devin Aromashodu's time in Chicago is likely over. He finished the 2009 season strong, but struggled last year. The Bears did not extend a qualifying tender to Aromashodu, a restricted free agent, according to a league source.

The Bears have restructured Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers' contract to create more salary-cap room for next season. Peppers signed a six-year deal worth potentially $91.5 million a year ago and was due a $10.5 roster bonus for next season. Instead, the Bears exercised their right to convert that money into a signing bonus and prorate it over the remaining years of his contract, which runs through the 2015 season. The move give Chicago roughly $8 million in cap space for the 2011 season.