Dazz Newsome didn’t get near the fanfare of others during the NFL draft. Such is the humble life of a 6th round pick. Even so, he was happy the Chicago Bears made his dream come true. Now he plans to take that next step towards success. All the while he is trying to soak in the moment as best he can while preparing for the season ahead. There is plenty of work to do and so little time to do it.
Has he had time to forge any fun memories of being drafted? Yes, as it turns out. Everybody knows the obvious story. As the Bears selected Newsome, he got the long-awaited call from head coach Matt Nagy welcoming him to Chicago. A call he admitted to the Bears Nation podcast that he wasn’t expecting. He’d only met with the Bears once or twice leading up to the draft. However, it was the next contact he got that caught him by surprise.
From fellow draft pick Justin Fields.
“When I first got drafted, he was the first one to hit me up and say, ‘Let’s get to work.’ Then I probably hit him up a couple of days after that asking him about the playbook just trying to make sure I was on the same page.”
Think about that. Remember that Fields was literally drafted just two days prior to Newsome. This means he would’ve had to contact the Bears deliberately asking for his phone number so he could send the young receiver a message. That is a pretty stark display of leadership right there. A sign that Fields knows exactly what is expected of him and is ready and willing to embrace it.
It also sounds like Newsome is anxious to get inside the mind of the new quarterback as well. No doubt because he understands Fields will eventually be the man in Chicago. The sooner the two can forge a connection, the better the odds Newsome has early success. Then again it’s not like he lacks confidence. Check out his answer when asked if there were any corners in the league he wanted to go against.
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“Any corners? I would say Jalen…Jalen Ramsey. He talks. He talks a lot and I like to talk too.”
Dazz Newsome enters the picture at an interesting time
There is some serious upheaval at the wide receiver position in Chicago. Outside of Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney, nobody can be considered a lock to make the roster at this point. Anthony Miller is guaranteed nothing after two disappointing seasons. The same goes for Javon Wims and Riley Ridley who haven’t accomplished much. They’ll be battling against a number of new faces including Marquise Goodwin, Damiere Byrd, and of course Newsome.
With what will likely be four roster spots up for grabs, it figures to be a pretty heated competition. One that Dazz Newsome has a good chance to do well in. Why? A number of reasons. He’s primarily a slot guy which is something the Bears need better production from. The fact he was just drafted makes it unlikely they will cut him right away. Last but not least is his special teams value. Newsome proved himself an able returner at North Carolina.
Now he’s already building a connection with their future quarterback.
Newsome arrives in Chicago with a lot to prove. He was always viewed as the “other” receiver in college thanks to the presence of Dyami Brown. This despite his own considerable success over the same time span. There is no denying the kid has talent. He doesn’t lack confidence either. If he puts in the work and finetunes his route running, there is no reason to think he can’t outperform his draft slot.