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Bears Reveal What Happened to Rookie Zavion Thomas and How to Fix It

Dynamic return man/receiver made no impact in his debut and Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower explained what it will take to get him going.
Gene Chamberlain|
Zavion Thomas celebrates with Roschon Johnson (left) after the rookie's TD catch against Tennessee in preseason.
Zavion Thomas celebrates with Roschon Johnson (left) after the rookie's TD catch against Tennessee in preseason. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears


When preseason ended, perhaps no other player generated as much Chicago Bears excitement from the rookie pool as Zavion Thomas.

The 39-yard punt return and 97-yard touchdown catch against Tennessee showed their fourth-round pick from LSU might have a little bit of Devin Hester's flare to him, in addition to being a possible distant relative of Walter Payton's.

The opener came and went, and Thomas practically came up invisible. He made less impact even than another rookie named Thomas. Thomas can't be blamed too much. Beyond Malik Muhammad, few Bears rookies had a positive impact on the game and they have to hope it's different Sunday against Minnesota.

The Bears tried using Thomas on kick returns and it seemed a natural place for him to make an impact, but Josh Blackwell ended up making all of the their four kick returns.

“When you take a look at that game, they were definitely kicking the ball away from him," special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. "We want the ball in his hands. We're going to do everything we can to get the ball in his hands.

"And he's got to go get some of those, which we're going to make sure that he is working to do that. But they definitely tried to pin it in the corner and try to keep it away from him. I haven't seen that this early on, but it is what it is.”

Facing Vikings coverage teams


The Bears could have a better chance this week if Minnesota's kick return coverage unit in Week 1 was typical of what they can expect. Bo Melton of the Packers exposed them for four returns at a 31-yard average, while Kaleb Johnson had returns of 27 and 25 yards on them.

The solution to exploiting this potential weakness and also to get Thomas going is quite simple, according to Hightower.

“Nothing he did wrong," Hightower said. "I'm just saying that this week he'll have to go get some of those, if he's able to go get them.

"Those in the game, I didn't think he was able to get them. They strategically wanted to kick away from him, and they kicked away from him all game, that's what they did.”

In the days of old in Bears lore, 1960s version, the Bears would put Dick Gordon back with Gale Sayers on kickoffs and line them up next to each other so the opponents couldn't know which would field the ball. But it didn't really matter because both were explosive kick returners. Also, players covering the kick came from on the other side of midfield so there was time for a player to go from the middle of the field to near the sideline to field a ball in the air.

The new kicking rules can make this difficult to accomplish. Defenders are closer, but can't move until the ball is touched or lands on the ground in the landing zone. Defenders line up on the Bears 40. They only need to run 20 to 40 yards to get to where the ball is fielded under these rules.

It all comes down to how well executed the squib or knuckle kickoff is. If it strikes the ground in the landing zone away from Thomas, he's going to need to show that 4.28-second speed in the 40 just to reach the ball before he ever turns upfield against defenders who could already be on top of him.

This all adds up to a tougher situation for the rookie on kick returns.

If Thomas is going to make a mark, it might need to be on offense first. He had no targets or offensive reps in the first game, and was on the field for six special teams plays. In fact, promoted special teams player Kaden Davis had more offensive reps than Thomas with 10. He also recovered a fumble on a muffed punt.

It's safe to suspect they'll want to get Thomas involved more going forward and it might be more difficult than it looked in preseason.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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