Signing Day: Chicago Bears Sign Draft Picks Mills and Washington

Jan 26, 2013; Mobile, AL, USA; Senior Bowl south squad offensive lineman Jordan Mills of Louisiana Tech against the Senior Bowl north squad during the second half of the Senior Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The South squad defeated the North squad 21-16. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The calendar has turned to May, which can mean a few things in Chicago.  The Cubs and Sox are already hopelessly out of it (check), the weather is vacillating between 85 and 55 on consecutive days and Cliff Stein is busily signing the latest crop of Chicago Bears rookies to contracts.  Stein improved on last season’s mark of May 2nd to get the first rookie, Alshon Jeffery, to sign on the dotted line by getting rookies Jordan Mills and Cornelius Washington to sign their rookie deals.

Mills, a 5th round OT out of Louisiana Tech, signed his 4-year deal and a short time later the Bears announced that 6th round selection, DE Cornelius Washington had inked his deal.  Both players are developmental projects, so the more time they can spend at Halas Hall working with coaches and teammates, the better.  Mills could compete at right tackle or challenge for one of the guard spots while Washington could be in the rotation at DE as a pass rush specialist.

The Bears have a rookie minicamp scheduled for next weekend and it’s been their goal to get their rookie class under contract by the time that minicamp gets underway.