Why the Usual Rookie Obstacles Will Fail to Hold Back Zavion Thomas

The Bears see nothing but potential in Zavion Thomas, and how fast he gets where they think he can eventually get to depends on one thing.

It's speed, but speed in two different ways. It's his natural running ability and how fast he grasps a potentially complex offense. At least this is what offensive coordinator Press Taylor believes, and also the way their third-round wide receiver heard it from coach Ben Johnson himself.

"We had a long conversation, him just telling me what's the expectations here, and hopefully what my role will be," Thomas said of Johnson. "It’s all going to be dictated to me how I grasp the offense and stuff like that. So it's all going to be up to me."

Taylor sees actual physical speed as the greatest factor working for Thomas against things like inexperience and a complicated attack. A 4.28-second 40 can be the great deodorizer to freshen up any rookie mistakes.

"I think the first thing that leaps off the tape is the speed element that he brings," Taylor said. "Obviously we know he is a dynamic returner. He's got a variety of experiences that when we looked through his college career, lining up at running back, taking handoffs from the backfield, obviously being out on the edge, playing inside the numbers.

"You see the speed and you see the complementary aspect of what he could potentially be with our group."

Then again, there is naturally a rookie learning curve involved.

"He's going to have to go earn it," Taylor said. "And that comes in the meeting room first, earning some trust to get your reps, showing that you can be trusted when you get there and then being able to do something with it.

"Just like anybody, he's going to put in a lot of time, put in a lot of work, and we'll see where he goes as this thing builds.”

It's safe to say when Johnson sees Thomas’ speed in practices against real NFL players and not the rookie camp tryout people he faced on Friday and Saturday, he'll have plays specifically suited exploit it.  They’ll scheme him into open looks.

One of those could be simple running plays in the backfield. Johnson could use him like a Jahmyr Gibbs type of back. Thomas said he's been lining up like a running back "all my life."

Luther Burden proved what rookie receivers can do

Last year they saw the explosiveness in second-round pick Luther Burden, and his knowledge of their offense was no better than Thomas' will be when actual practices begin. It took very little time for Burden to reach impact level, then he finished only three behind DJ Moore in the battle for most catches by a wide receiver on the team with 47. His start was definitely slow, but he had 36 catches in the final 10 games.

It's safe to expct a start like this from Thomas, except for one thing. There is no established, star veteran who commands targets the way Moore did at the outset. Sure, they have Rome Odunze but he hasn't yet had the kind of numbers the team expected from a first-round pick, and Burden is still only in his second year.

"None of these guys are finished products," Moore pointed out. "So it's really just growing as an entire player.

"With him it's going to be different. He goes from Mississippi State to LSU, learns  a new system, comes here, learns a new system that's probably a little bit more in depth than he's ever been a part of. Then you're doing it and it continues, every single day there's a new install, we're rolling pretty quick, so they're kind of drinking from a fire hose early on. You want to see that point in training camp where it hits that they're confident and then you start to see their skillset really flourish.”

The rookies at the weekend minicamp barely have scratched the surface at this point.

"Where right now, they're thinking, every time they break the huddle, they're thinking. Their mind is going a million miles an hour. We know you're not seeing the full skillset yet. And that'll come as they get comfortable and they start to understand what's being asked them.”

Veteran Kalif Raymond is on the roster and likely to get the share of catches a third or fourth receiver would make.  

They signed tryout veteran Scotty Miller, who figures to be a player vying with Jahdae Walker and hoping for a roster spot. Miller has bounced around and is on his fourth team in five years. He's been targeted more than 11 times in a season only once since 2020, and that was 23 times in 2022. His most recent assignment was catching 14 total passes in two years with Pittsburgh.  He averaged 6.9 yards a catch last year.

If Raymond, Miller, or Walker are holding back Thomas by midseason then something went terribly wrong with a draft pick, or there was an injury involved because no other player on the entire roster can provide 4.28-second speed in the 40, something Johnson is sure to use creatively.

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