Angelo, Smith reflect on Colombo's departure
By Larry Mayer
September 14, 2005
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The decision to release offensive tackle Marc Colombo Tuesday was a very difficult one for general manager Jerry Angelo and the rest of the Bears organization.
The 2002 first-round draft pick from Boston College had valiantly battled his way back from a devastating knee injury that had sidelined him for nearly two years.
Marc Colombo played in the final eight games last season after missing nearly two years with a dislocated left knee.
"Unfortunately, it's just part of the business," Angelo said after practice Wednesday at Halas Hall.
"Given Marc's situation-he had a horrific injury-for really a good two and a half years, to watch his dedication and his work ethic ... having to do what we did was very, very tough."
"It was very hard," concurred coach Lovie Smith. "It hurt quite a bit. You just think about what Marc Colombo has gone through since he's been here-the tough injury, the rehab-to get himself in position to try and perform at a certain level. That's tough.
"Personally, it hurt when you tell a player his dream has been stopped for a while. But we had to do what was best for our football team and we felt like this was what was best at this time and hopefully it will work out for Marc too. He's released early enough where hopefully he can get on with another team and start that dream back up."
Colombo was released so the Bears could sign offensive tackle John St. Clair, who started all 16 games for the St. Louis Rams in 2002 when Smith was the team's defensive coordinator.
"I thought (St. Clair) showed up for work each day," Smith said. "He's a hard worker with good ability; a good teammate to the rest of the guys. I think he can play and he can help us. We just felt like we upgraded the position when we had an opportunity to bring him in."
"It was a matter of another player in John St. Clair that we felt was a better player in his role," Angelo said. "Really it came down to that. It wasn't that we were dissatisfied with Marc.
"We liked this other player better and any time you have an opportunity to upgrade your roster irrelevant to whether he's a backup or a starter, we're going to look at that very seriously and that was the case."
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