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Bears Rookies Aren't Making Much Noise at OTAs, and That's Not Bad News

Bears rookies have been quiet through OTAs, but that says more about the limits of spring practices than it does about Ryan Poles' 2026 draft class in Chicago.
Gene Chamberlain|
Logan Jones goes through stretching at Bears rookie camp. The former Iowa center is now working with the second team.
Logan Jones goes through stretching at Bears rookie camp. The former Iowa center is now working with the second team. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Frequently in the past, Bears GMs and coaches of different names and sorts have spoken about the topic.

It's the great rookie vanishing act.

Rookies come into the rookie minicamp after being drafted, momentum is on their side. Fans are excited to see these players against other rookies at the first rookie minicamp and then ... nothing.

Once OTAs begin after the rookie camp, none of them are heard from or at the very best they become background pieces.

It has happened again at Bears OTAs and it's safe to expect it will continue on into this week's three-day mandatory minicamp.

This is not to say they are failing. No one in OTAs was trumpeting the play of Kyle Monangai, Colston Loveland or Luther Burden last year during OTAs. It was a bit different on the offensive line with Ozzy Trapilo because he was involved in a situation affected by the absence of left tackle Braxton Jones due to recovery from a broken ankle. Loveland and Burden were injured themselves and you couldn't tell anything from Monangai because no one had pads on and his physical running style wouldn't become apparent until the regular season.

All of this aside, they wouldn't have done much at that point, anyway. Rookies' heads are swimming. They're learning the new offense, the new defense, the way the game is played in the NFL and the speed of play. They get caught up in the current. Veterans who know all of this stuff already have no problem making plays or overshadowing rookies.

Here's where this rookie class stands going into minicamp and coming out of OTAs. Don't be surprised if you barely hear a peep from them until training camp, and if you do then it's probably greatly exaggerated one way or the other. None of this means Poles has a failed draft class, just a normal one.

Dillon Thieneman

Their first-round pick had some playing time with the first team at the last OTA session the media could watch. He had none the first week. He wasn't taking all the first-team snaps. He hasn't really stepped up and made an interception or big play and even was in during a big play allowed by the pass coverage during rookie camp that he admitted resulted in a huge gain or TD due to his mistake. Thieneman is learning two positions at once. They used him in the deep secondary position in OTAs and had him learning more of the strong position in rookie camp. He's eventually going to know every secondary position but for now is only learning and not excelling.

Logan Jones

Their center from Iowa has been the backup center. He hasn't practiced with starters. The second team had a few instances of false starts while he was on the field but not necessarily because of a center-quarterback cadence issue. His blocking isn't apparent because they don't really have full contact. As Ben Johnson pointed out, they're "not facing bull rushes." It's nothing like real football.

They're going to trade Garrett Bradbury and start Jones? Good luck with that. They'll be fortunate if Jones is able to handle something like starting by the end of the season's first quarter. It's a difficult position for a rookie and this is the reason Bradbury was center all season for the AFC champion Patriots last year. At the very best, they could learn plenty about him in preseason and training camp.

Drafting a center and starting them from Day 1 means you either got a first-round, can't fail pick or you're a last-place desperate team that didn't sign a veteran option in free agency.

Sam Roush

He's still unsigned but does practice. His strength is blocking. So how does that work for OTAs and now minicamp? It doesn't. They're not hitting and it's impossible to judge anything by what he's done. He has shown good hands in drills and in some 7-on-7 work.

Zavion Thomas

The smash hit of Bears OTAs? His big play was one bomb down the sidelines in 7-on-7 when it wasn't entirely clear if Tyrique Stevenson got beat or thought he was going to have help deep. Either way, Thomas caught that perfectly thrown deep ball from the pocket by Caleb Williams the way he should with no one near him. Otherwise, Thomas has caught a few screens and shorter passes he could turn upfield while playing with starters or backups.

It's not a reason to be excited about the fact he had some first-team snaps. The Bears rotate their receivers at this time of year so virtually all of them are getting plays with Williams throwing to them, from Maurice Alexander, Scotty Miller and J.P. Richardson to Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III and Thomas. It's the smart thing to do so they're familiar if pressed into duty as backups during the season.

Malik Muhammad

He wasn't at the first OTA session media could attend, was on the field for last week's but didn't do much that stood out. He has had snaps both in the slot and outside but is trending more on the outside at the moment. The slot snaps could have been more a situation of player absence than anything else. With Kyler Gordon injured again, Cam Lewis not at practice, and Josh Blackwell a player they don't seem to trust much beyond special teams, someone had to get some slot snaps. Blackwell was getting an unusual amount of snaps there in the first OTA week considering how little they have allowed him to play the spot since Dennis Allen became coordinator. This doesn't say a lot for Muhammad's readiness as a slot cornerback. At the moment, he's not "challenging" Tyrique Stevenson outside nor Gordon in the slot. He's learning to play.

Keyshaun Elliott

The fifth-round linebacker wasn't participating during the first week and then wasn't with the first team in the second OTA session. This was the case even though T.J. Edwards isn't practicing yet, and in the first week of OTAs they didn't have D'Marco Jackson on the field in defensive team scrimmage although he did take part in special teams and individual work. They have used Jack Sanborn ahead of Elliott and also second-year linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II.

Jordan van den Berg

He got good backfield penetration on one running play to help disrupt it last week but beyond this the only reason anyone thought about him was one question at a press conference from a reporter making a reference to Grady Jarrett about the Always Fresh Laundromat van den Berg owns in Atlanta.

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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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