The Chicago Bears knew they were getting an explosive athlete when they selected rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas, but it hasn’t taken long for him to begin justifying the excitement…
Thomas capped off the first week of training camp with his biggest moment yet, hauling in a touchdown from Tyson Bagent during Saturday’s rainy practice.
“Just a nice call by coach Ben,” Thomas said Saturday. “I had to do what I had to do to put my team in a position to win and make a play. That’s what I did.”
Through the first week of camp, Thomas has been one of Chicago’s busiest offensive players. He’s worked with the first, second and third team offenses, caught passes from Caleb Williams, Bagent and Case Keenum, and continued handling both kick and punt return duties.
That kind of workload says plenty about how Ben Johnson and his coaching staff view the rookie.
Bears are finding more ways to use Zavion Thomas
GettyBears WR Zavion Thomas
While Zavion Thomas’ touchdown grab was the highlight of Saturday’s practice, it wasn’t the only encouraging development.
WR1 Rome Odunze believes Thomas has already shown why the Chicago Bears are looking for ways to get him involved.
“I think that speaks to how dynamic he is as a player,” Odunze said. “You can’t keep him off the field. Obviously, we have a lot of weapons, but he’s just another piece to that puzzle who’s going to get his share as well. Whenever he’s on the field, he’s trying to make a play.”
Offensive coordinator Press Taylor has a name for how Ben Johnson’s staff is developing its young skill players, Thomas included: “The Firehouse Method.”
It means throw everything at a rookie early, let him fail, and see how he responds.
“We’re okay with guys failing through practice,” Taylor said. “That’s a big part of this thing… you’ll get your opportunity at the next go-around to see if you’ve responded from it, learned from it, what you can handle.”
Thomas has lived that cycle already. On Friday, he blew a pre-snap assignment and got an earful from Williams on the spot. But he didn’t take it the wrong way.
“I know it’s coming from a good place,” Thomas said. “We’ve all got the same objective. We’ve all got the same goal. We wanna win. So if I’m not doing the right thing, anybody, tell me. I know how to take coaching.”
Leaning on the WR room
GettyBears WR Zavion Thomas
Zavion Thomas has also been intentional about who he studies. Ben Johnson pointed him early toward Kalif Raymond, the 11 year veteran who followed Johnson from Detroit, and Thomas has taken that guidance literally.
“Kalif is a guy that does everything right,” Thomas said. “Coach Ben was telling me about him… ‘I want you to follow him around. I want you to do everything that he does.’ So that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been staying on his hip.”
It’s a small detail sure, but it says something about how Thomas is approaching his rookie year.
If he continues stacking practices like Saturday’s, the Chicago Bears may have no choice but to keep finding ways to get him on the field.
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