It’s that time of year again, folks: padless football is back in action, and us football-starved junkies can’t help but be glad. (That’s all we get to hold us over for the next month until training camp starts. Plus, it’s way more fun to think about than whatever’s going on with the Chicago Bears’ stadium saga.)
And, despite every impulse telling us not to read too much into it, you can’t deny it’s nice to see third-round rookie Zavion Thomas pop up with a highlight play or two in the few glimpses
we’ve gotten of the Chicago Bears during this off-season phase.
At one point during OTAs, Thomas got loose for a long sideline grab from QB1 Caleb Williams and later showed off his speed on a screen pass during minicamp. On a team with a lot of good skill players, from Rome Odunze on down to D’Andre Swift, there’s no denying someone like Thomas simply looks different.
Football is not a game you win just by being fast. But speed in the right hands can kill, and that’s what head coach Ben Johnson was thinking when he reached for Thomas with the 89th overall pick in the draft.
“If we can harness all this energy and make sure that we can trust him and that he’s going to align where he needs to and run the route the way we need him to, we really could use him, and he could be a big weapon for us this year. But that’s what we’re trying to harness right now,” Johnson told reporters of Thomas. “I think he’s developing the work ethic that we expect, not only from a receiver, but from anyone on offense, or the team.”
Thomas was certainly a curious pick at that stage, given the other, much more polished prospects available in the third round. But the reasoning for drafting him (at some point) is obvious: with a coaching staff that can develop him, he has the potential to become a game-changing weapon in the slot, out of the backfield, and in the return game.
The Bears have possession receivers (Odunze), matchup nightmares (Colston Loveland), YAC monsters (Luther Burden III), and a stable of solid running backs in Swift and Kyle Monangai. What they don’t have? A straight-up burner. Though Thomas isn’t likely to be Tyreek Hill or even Jameson Williams, whom Johnson oversaw the drafting of while with the Lions, his 4.28 40 time and toughness with the ball in his hands is tantalizing (if he can consistently catch it).
Of course, that’s the thing: looking good in OTAs and minicamp, or even the first few days of training camp, doesn’t guarantee success.
As a former Patriots beat reporter, I’ve watched Tyquan Thornton show signs of production in minicamp and training camp, only to eventually disappear and get traded away from the team. And while he looks like a more traditionally functional player than Velus Jones Jr., it’s hard to completely disregard that comparison. Speed always pops when the pads aren’t on and no one can hit you. But when it’s time to run real routes and beat coverage not just with physicality but with nuance and technical skill, can Thomas do that?
His college stats, in addition to him being (generously) sixth on the pass-catching pecking order in the early going with this roster, suggest we shouldn’t be expecting some Rookie-of-the-Year-level breakout from him. Then again, I don’t think the Chicago Bears need or want that from him at all.
Even if he’s nowhere near ready to be a third or fourth option at this stage in his career, just putting him on the field will make defenses think. Depending on what he does in training camp and in preseason games, getting the ball in his hands with schemed touches once or twice a game feels reasonable to keep opponents honest.
The bottom line: let’s keep the expectations low for Thomas as a rookie—draft pedigree be damned—and give Johnson’s forward-thinking vision a chance to work. As we saw with Burden last year, sometimes it’s best to get a talented player before you need him. That way, you won’t find yourself regretting not swinging when you had the chance.
If there’s any offense in the league that should give him room to grow as a player, it’s this one, whether he plays more receiver or running back.
For now, though, let’s keep a little cautious optimism about what that elite speed can do for the Chicago Bears.
