Zah Frazier was drafted in the 5th round last year as a pet project for defensive backs coach Al Harris. It was easy to see the appeal. He was tall, long, incredibly athletic, and made significant progress in coverage during his final season at UTSA. Under Harris’ guidance, he could develop quickly into a major contributor for the Bears defense. Instead, a mysterious personal issue saw him miss the entirety of 2025. It was hoped the time off would give him a chance to get his affairs in order. For a time, it felt like he was finally ready to go. Then the Bears cut him right before spring practices began. Head coach Ben Johnson was asked about the decision.
He admitted the team was hopeful the cornerback had gotten his situation sorted out. Unfortunately, as minicamps approached, it became increasingly clear that was not the case. Rather than let things play out any further, he and general manager Ryan Poles chose to pull the plug.
“Zah’s a guy we’ve had here for over a year,” Johnson said. “When we’re looking at the roster, where we’re at, where he’s at, it was time to part ways.”
“We were hopeful, and it wasn’t going in that direction,” Johnson said. “This trajectory was off, and we decided to go in a different direction.”
This is not the result anybody wanted. The Bears spent a 5th rounder on him because they had serious hopes he could become a good player. It remains unclear how it all fell apart, but it’s obvious the team was out of patience.
Ben Johnson showed another crucial, if unsavory side to coaching.
One thing that isn’t talked about enough in regard to that job is player attachment. Many coaches have a tendency to get too attached to certain players they love for one reason or another. While building relationships is important, it must never come at the expense of the team. When a player becomes a drag on the organization’s time and resources, it falls to the head coach to cut them loose. It is not a job with much room for charity or kindness. You have to be ruthless at times.
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You’ll often find this trait among some of the best coaches in NFL history. Bill Walsh earned a reputation for dumping players at the first sign of regression. The same was true of Jimmy Johnson in Dallas. Bill Belichick didn’t make many friends during his years in New England with how often he unloaded players he felt were useless, aging, or simply going through a rough patch. Is it cold? Certainly. It also must be done. Good teams aren’t built through giving struggling players a pass. It is done by assembling the deepest roster possible.
Frazier deserves empathy, but not sympathy.
Whatever it is he’s dealing with is clearly traumatic. Everybody wanted to see him succeed in Chicago. Seeing later draft picks ascend is one of the great joys for Bears fans. The harsh reality is that there are more examples of this current result than the former. Players never see the field and are eventually released. Granted, Frazier’s situation is somewhat unique, but Ben Johnson still handled it appropriately. At some point, it’s time to say goodbye. Hopefully, Frazier can latch on somewhere else and get his career off the ground. The Bears can allocate that roster spot to somebody who will actually use it.
It is another sign that the head coach sees the big picture. This game has little room for sympathy. You don’t win championships by being a safe haven for players who are mentally struggling. Yes, that is harsh, but this is a cutthroat business. If you want to win, you must be prepared to hand out to send guys packing when they’re no longer useful. Johnson appears to have that trait, which wasn’t always something we could say about his predecessors over the past decade.
