The Chicago Bears announced Monday they signed center Taylor Boggs and safety Derrick Martin to one-year contracts.
Financial terms of the deals weren’t disclosed.
A three-year veteran, Boggs (6-foot-3, 285 pounds) played in one game last season, after spending the prior two years with the New York Jets after joining them in 2011 as an undrafted free agent out of Humboldt State.
Boggs served as the primary backup last season to veteran Roberto Garza. So it’s unclear what the signing of Boggs means for Garza, a pending free agent. The club has said it would like to bring back Garza for 2014. But all indications point to the Bears wanting to do so with a veteran minimum type of deal, which means there’s a good chance Garza will wait to see if other teams are interested in bringing him in as a potential starter.
Garza has started in 133 of 142 regular-season games for the Bears, and served as the leader on an offensive line that featured four new starters in 2013.
Martin, meanwhile, is an eight-year veteran who played in seven games for the Bears in 2013, primarily as a special-teamer. He produced six special-teams tackles and one stop on defense in 2013, and has played on five teams (Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, New England Patriots and the Bears) over eight seasons.
Martin has posted 66 tackles on special teams, 38 on defense, and three interceptions, eight pass breakups, a sack and a fumble recovery.
