Bedridden for more than a month, Hayden Large found a favorite television show: “Friday Night Lights.”
Of course he did. It was where he wanted to be.
“Greatest show ever,” the Bears tight end said.
In 2019, Large tore his hamstring — and an egg-shaped piece of his pelvic bone along with it — in a scrimmage weeks before the start of his senior season at Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Mich. He spent 35 days on bed rest, though he’d sneak out to attend high school games, and wondered what would become of his football career.
He’d run for 1,300 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior, winning the state championship. Now he feared he’d never play again.
“I was told,” he said, “I might not be the same.”
Seven years and six college seasons later, the 24-year-old will play his first NFL game Saturday when the Bears host the Browns.
“The story’s a really redemptive story,” said Joel Penner, the head coach at NAIA Dordt University. “And it’s fun to see.”
Lions receiver Isaac TeSlaa saw it up close. The two have been friends since third grade, when TeSlaa played guard and Large played running back. They went to the same high school, playing on a varsity squad of only 22 kids. They joined the basketball team together just to stay in shape.
TeSlaa was on the field when Large was tackled during the scrimmage. Large insisted on being propped up on a training bench to watch the end of it, wearing sunglasses to fight the glare, all without part of his pelvic bone.
When Large was bedridden, TeSlaa would stop by balloons to cheer him up. He knew his friend was struggling.
“That’s the time in our lives when everyone’s hanging out,” he said. “He had to be at home and hobbled around.”
They’d once dreamed of going to college together. TeSlaa agreed to play for Div. II Hillsdale. Large went to Dordt — the 2,000-person school was the only one to offer him a football spot. Even though it shared the same religious affiliation with his high school, Dordt, in the northwest corner of Iowa, felt far away from home. His dad, Forrest, nonetheless made the 12-hour drive for each game, watching his son turn into a small-college star.
By his sophomore year, Large’s coaches built plays specifically for him, moving him into the backfield or splitting him wide at receiver.
“He had that motor and that drive within,” Penner said.
In three seasons, he caught 62 passes for 950 yards and 12 touchdowns.
“I was just happy to play football at that moment,” Large said. “Anything I could get out of football, I wanted to.”
Large decided he wanted more. TeSlaa decided to transfer after three standout Div. II seasons, eventually landing at Arkansas. He talked to Large about making a similar leap.
“I felt I had to challenge myself at the Div. I level,” TeSlaa said. “I felt like he did too.”
Large decided to go. Iowa offered him a preferred walk-on spot. His name — the inspiration had nothing to do with Hayden Fry, Iowa’s legendary coach — and position made Large a cult hero in short order. He started twice at fullback in each of his first two years — “It’s a mindset thing,” he said — before emerging as a blocking-first tight end in 2025, his sixth college season.
It wasn’t until his final season that Abdul Hodge, the Hawkeyes’ tight ends coach, told him he might have a future in the NFL.
“He said, ‘You can make a niche for yourself if you get to the right team,’” he said.
Large knew that could be the Bears — and vice versa. Before the NFL draft began, coach Ben Johnson called Large and laid out the vision he had for him. When the Bears took tight end Sam Roush in Round 3, though, he feared Large would be discouraged from signing.
“He didn’t bat an eye,” Johnson said. “This is where he wanted to be. To me, that speaks volumes about how he’s wired. That has something to do with how he came — walk on at Iowa, earning playing time and going through the long, hard road. I really appreciate that.”
The Bears like taking Iowa blockers, including second-round rookie center Logan Jones in April. The Hawkeyes’ ground-it-out-style offense prepares them for Johnson’s scheme. Tight ends coach Jim Dray can appreciate the work ethic that got Large this far — “There’s a desire to do right,” he said — but few make it this far without it.
The 6-4, 250-pound Large is near the bottom of a seven-person tight end room — but he knows what the Bears will be looking for against the Browns.
“Physicality,” he said.
TeSlaa tries to figure the odds of two high school teammates from a 22-man team playing major-college football, much less appearing in the NFL. It’s astronomical — but so were the odds of Large making it this far.
“I feel like this is going to be a great showcase for him,” TeSlaa said. “We’ve had talks about the immense pressure, but he’s in such a great spot mentally that he’s going to give his absolute all.”