Chicago’s behind-the-scenes draft video shows how soon the Bears fell in love with third-round tight end Sam Roush
The Chicago Bears surprised everyone when the team drafted another tight end in the third-round of the 2026 NFL Draft and the latest 1920 Football Drive video shows when the team really fell in love with Sam Roush.
The Chicago Bears have finally released the latest episode of 1920 Football Drive detailing the team’s scouting and evaluation process leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft.
While it didn’t include any fun nuggets about potential trades that fell through the cracks, we did get an in-depth look at the lives and work of the scouting department during the spring and how it led to who the team ultimately selected in the draft.
Part of that process included some footage of the NFL Combine meetings with first-round safety Dillon Thieneman and third-round tight end Sam Roush, who absolutely blew the team away in those meetings. The reaction from Roush’s interview and scouting process was especially notable.
Chicago Bears were blown away by Sam Roush during their meeting at the NFL Combine
“With Sam, we got the chance to talk with him at the combine as well. Which was great to get him up on the board and have two Stanford alums talking ball with him and (TEs coach Jim Dray),” Bears director of player personnel Trey Koziol explained. “It was an impressive of an interview I’ve ever seen from a tight end in a long time.”
Hearing that from Koziol isn’t just fluff. Just one year prior, the Bears met with Coston Loveland during the pre-draft process before draft him 10th overall. Prior to joining the Bears, Koziol was with general manager Ryan Poles in Kansas City as an area scout in 2013 when the team drafted Travis Kelce.
Clearly, Roush impressed the entire organization during the time they spent together at the combine. In fact, Koziol was already impressed by Roush well before then.
“Got a chance to talk to Sam a little bit down at the Senior Bowl,” Koziol added. “It was the first time I came away blown away. It’s the poise, the maturity, the intelligence. Obviously, you see a big body and you automatically assume that he’s just a blocking Y. And then you go out and see him in the passing game and say ‘OK, there’s a lot more than meets the eye there.’”
After trading back from the late second-round into the early third-round, Chicago decided to rip Roush with the 69th overall pick. Toward the end of the video, head coach Ben Johnson even told Roush on the phone during the selection that he loved visiting with Roush and that he made a big impression on the team.
Now that he’s in the building, the Bears can start getting to work on how they can get him involved starting in OTAs.