By Mark Potash
Sun-Times Media
August 10, 2011 11:20PM
Johnny Knox, listed behind Roy Williams on the depth chart, makes a catch against Charles Tillman during drills. | Nam Y. Huh~AP
Updated: August 11, 2011 2:03AM
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — There were no big surprises when the Bears released their first ‘‘unofficial’’ depth chart of the preseason Wednesday. Roy Williams was ahead of Johnny Knox at wide receiver. Devin Hester is listed ahead of Earl Bennett at the other receiver.
‘‘Guys like Johnny just need to learn to be consistent,’’ offensive coordinator Mike Martz said of Knox. ‘‘He certainly has the ability. He just is still learning to play, adjust and do the things we ask him to do.”
Right tackle Gabe Carimi is the only rookie starter. Four rookies are currently second team: free safety Chris Conte (behind Major Wright), right tackle Josh Davis (behind Carimi), strong side linebacker J.T. Thomas (behind Nick Roach) and middle linebacker Dom DeCicco (behind Brian Urlacher). Davis and DeCicco are undrafted.
Sanzenbacher update: Wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher, the undrafted rookie from Ohio State who has been taking first-team reps in practice, is No. 3 behind Williams and Knox. But he’s also pushing Bennett for playing time as the slot receiver.
“We’re very pleased with his progress,’’ Martz said. ‘‘He’s really done a good job in the slot as our nickel receiver, and he plays ‘X’ too. With the things we continue to add, he’s (made) very few mistakes. He’s got a chance.”
Adams still out: Defensive tackle Anthony Adams had a boot on his left leg missed a third day of practice with a calf injury Wednesday. But he was not concerned it would keep him out for long.
‘‘A little boo-boo,’’ he said. ‘‘Just doing drills and I kind of felt something. We’re just taking precautions.’’
Adams, Henry Melton and Matt Toeaina are listed as a three-man ‘‘starting’’ rotation at defensive tackle. Newcomer Amobi Okoye, rookie Stephen Paea and Marcus Harrison are listed as backups.
Conte a fast learner: Chris Conte, the third-round draft pick from California, would have liked to have had an offseason to learn the playbook, but seems to be catching up quickly.
‘‘You’re playing catch-up at this point,’’ Conte said. ‘‘We’ve installed everything in a week. It’s hard to go every day, learning something new when you can barely remember the stuff you learned the day before. It’s rough. It’s going to take time. But as time goes by I’ll get more and more comfortable with it.’’
Except for dealing with the crash course, Conte feels comfortable in the Bears’ defense.
‘‘Definitely,’’ the 6-2, 203-pound Conte said. ‘‘I think I can be very successful here.’’
Conte played in a 3-4 defense at Cal. He said playing in a 4-3 in the NFL is mostly a matter of ‘‘getting rid of old habits’’ to transition to different techniques required by the Bears scheme.
‘‘I think I’m going to be playing a lot in the middle of the field and play a lot of Cover-2,’’ he said. ‘‘My ability to just read and break on the ball I think is where I’m going to be most successful.’’
Martz hoping for a ‘quantum leap’
Martz is optimistic the Bears will improve on offense with Jay Cutler and others in the second year of his offense.
“We feel like we should be able to continue to improve from where we left off and make a quantum leap in some other areas,’’ Martz said. ‘‘With the number of receivers we have and the quality there, I would think we’d be much better there. Kellen (Davis, the starting tight end) has stepped to the forefront and established himself not just as a blocker, but also a pretty dynamic receiver in practice. There are some things coming out of this that you get pretty excited about.”