The reaction when the Chicago Bears selected Zavion Thomas in the 3rd round last month was muted. Fans were sure why the team was taking a wide receiver that early. On paper, the team already had a strong lineup even after losing D.J. Moore to a trade. Experts immediately jumped to the conclusion that he would be their primary return man, serving as an occasional fun little toy for head coach Ben Johnson on offense. A classic gadget weapon. Outside of that, don’t expect much.
Such an assumption would be a mistake. When Thomas arrived for rookie minicamps last week, Coach Johnson took him aside, and the two talked. There, he made it clear to the young receiver that there is no set role for him on offense. Everything was on the table. How many snaps he played this season would be entirely dictated by how well Thomas absorbed the playbook and applied it in practice. If he excels quickly enough, even a starting job isn’t out of the question.
“We had a long conversation, him just telling me what’s the expectations here and hopefully what my role will be,” Thomas said. “It’s all going to be dictated [by] me how I grasp the offense and stuff like that, so it’s all going to be up to me.”
Ben Johnson is showing again that nobody’s job is safe.
This is not a team that will hand out roster spots based on name recognition or experience. Johnson will play the guys who deserve to be out there. We saw that last season, with Colston Loveland and Luther Burden both getting into the mix much faster than lots of rookies usually do. That is because they were putting in the work in practice, reaching a point where Johnson couldn’t justify keeping them off the field. It worked out pretty well. Both proved essential to getting the Bears to the playoffs and beating the Packers in the wild card round.
There won’t be any change to the approach this season. Johnson won’t play anybody until you show him you’re willing to put in the work. Thomas seems to understand that. Talent has never been a problem with him. He’s super athletic and blazing fast. His deal will focus on developing his route-running skills and finding ways to contribute as a blocker. He’ll face some stiff competition for playing time with Kalif Raymond, Jahdae Walker, and Scotty Miller all in the mix. The Bears seem confident that he can handle it.
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Thomas is finally in a position to thrive.
It is safe to say that was never really the case in college. Things never quite lined up for him at both Mississippi State and LSU. The head coach was fired midseason during his sophomore season with the former, prompting him to transfer to the latter. Then, after spending a year as a backup, he finally gets to start and watches his quarterback get hurt, shortly followed by his head coach getting fired midseason again. It seems rather ironic that Thomas would find stability at both in Chicago.
Ben Johnson is by far the best coach he’s had at any level. Caleb Williams is the type of gifted quarterback he’s never had the chance to play with. Thomas has already shown flashes of his ability in minicamps, proving there is far more to his game than just running really fast. Johnson seems to think he has a far higher ceiling than others do, and is prepared to put his money where his mouth is by leaving a starting spot wide open. All he has to do is reach out and grab it.
