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Past Bears Rookie Receiver Success Says Plan for Zavion Thomas Can Work

Bears rookies have had varying degrees of success in Week 1 of practice but one who keeps popping up with starters is Zavion Thomas, and there's a reason.
Gene Chamberlain|
Rookie receiver Zavion Thomas signs autographs during training camp at Halas Hall.
Rookie receiver Zavion Thomas signs autographs during training camp at Halas Hall. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

After Week 1 of Bears practices, the rookie who stood out the most probably should surprise no one.

It's the rookie the Bears had a well thought-out plan to use, and that's third-round receiver Zavion Thomas.

  • Center Logan Thomas, their second-rounder, has worked exclusively with the second team.
  • Starting safety Dillon Thieneman is trying to get used to the higher level of play with starters and hasn't yet stood out with his play. Just being able to hold his own with the starters is an accomplishment in itself before advancing to playmaker.
  • Third-round tight end Sam Roush is expected to stand out more once pads come on because blocking is a strength.
  • Fourth-round cornerback Malik Muhammad has moved between third slot cornerback and backup cornerback and had several plays when he was beaten, including one by rookie Zavion Thomas that led to a talking-to from DB coaches.
  • Fifth-round linebacker Keyshaun Elliott hasn't practiced due to a quad injury.
  • Like with Roush, sixth-round defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg is expected to show up more once pads come on, as there's not a lot interior defensive linemen do
    without being able to be physical. And it's not easy being physical without pads.

Force-feeding through the firehose

Thomas, though, is being used in different ways and the team has said all along they plan to use his great speed by having a package of plays for him. They're trying to get him to learn the whole attack all while knowing and executing specific play sets for him, much like last year with Luther Burden III.

This week Thomas might even turn up in the backfield, with the team putting on pads and with running back Kyle Monangai out injured.

The idea of a package is a good way to get a rookie weapon involved until he's had enough experience to fit in as an integral part of the regular offense. He caught a TD pass from Tyson Bagent with the backup offense to close out two-minute drill at the fourth practice and popped up here or there throughout the week with a reception either from Bagent or from Caleb Williams.

"At the end of the day, whatever is being thrown at me I have to know what I'm doing," Thomas said. "I have to put my team in the best position to win so that's what I'm going to do."

Beyond the plan for using him, what's best about Thomas is the Bears are making it possible for the plan to succeed. Plenty of teams have ideas how to get rookie receivers or backs involved in the offense faster but so often it all gets washed away as the player gets bogged down or lost in learning the attack, or he gets covered over by veterans trying hard to keep what they've built up within a team. The Bears are not only accepting a rookie in their ranks but are making him comfortable enough to flourish.

"It's been fun just being around the guys that I'm around," Thomas said. "A lot of young guys in the room, they help me. Every time I have a question I go to the older guys. I can go to Rome (Odunze), I can go to Kalif (Raymond), everybody in the room. They make me feel comfortable so everything is good."

They also made Thomas part of what they were doing during summer offseason when QBs and receivers met for some informal passing work in California away from the team.

"Yeah, it's been good working with Tyson," Raymond said. "Every time I have a question before practice or after practice, I go to him.

"Whatever it is, he always tells me 'If you ever need something or ever want to know something, just come to me'. Him making me feel comfortable and good. That relationship with him has been good."

It's not all success and smiles. Thomas was obviously supposed to be in motion on a play Williams aborted with disgust early in the week during practice. The rookie needs to learn the details.

The bottom line is the Bears want to make a player with tremendous speed feel at ease using it, then apply himself.

A player with the kind of speed like Thomas has at 4.28 for the 40, can go through college leaning so much on his ability that learning an offense and his role could get shoved into the background. The Bears want to make sure he knows the offense, so receivers coach Antwaan Randle El is trying to monitor the "drinking from a firehose" method of learning.

"In a way, but my position coach, coach El, he tells me 'just go!,' " Thomas said. "Everybody is just telling me to just go. So I'm going to do what they say and just go."

Getting Thomas to go and go fast is their aim. It doesn't do much good to have a player so fast but afraid to use his speed because of the fear of mistakes. That's how you end up with a third-round receiver failure, like Velus Jones Jr.

The Bears already showed last year they can take rookie pass catchers and turn them into key components within the offense. In the case of Colston Loveland and Burden, they did it without even having an offseason of work as a result of injuries.

The plan they're implementing with Thomas very well could make it two years in a row they've found success with rookie receivers.

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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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