Zavion Thomas’ skillset can help Ben Johnson unlock another aspect of the Bears’ offense that people aren’t talking about enough
Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas was turning heads in a good way during the offseason program integrating into head coach Ben Johnson’s offense, and his potential impact is vast with how he can be used.
The Chicago Bears came out of the offseason program uber impressed from what they saw from rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas, an encouraging sight for the rookie’s chances of being an impact player in this offense and a frightening sight for the rest of the league.
On Monday, the ESPN staff got together and listed the most surprising players from each team throughout OTAs and minicamp. Thomas was an easy answer for the Bears.
“He tends to make a play almost every single day right now that says, OK, if we can harness all of this energy and make sure that we can trust him and he’s going to align where he needs to and run the route the way we need him to, that we really could use him and he could be a big weapon for us this year,” head coach Ben Johnson said.
The big thing for Thomas right now is mastering the playbook by the time he returns to training camp on July 25. As we learned last offseason, that’s a tough ask for any rookie. Much less someone like Thomas who seemingly has no limit for how he can be used.
Chicago Bears rookie WR Zavion Thomas can help bring back a key part of Ben Johnson’s offense
Since the Bears drafted Thomas, everyone has been breaking down how this guy can be a deep threat in the passing game to maximize quarterback Caleb Williams’ strengths and a dangerous return man alongside Kalif Raymond. Thomas is much more than that.
Thomas is an elusive player with the ball in his hands and someone Johnson can utilize on short designed passes as well. Back in 2024, Johnson’s offense with the Detroit Lions ranked third in the NFL with 913 receiving yards on 118 passes thrown at or behind the line of scrimmage. With the Bears, his offense totaled just 532 yards on 102 such passes.
For a coach looking to improve his quarterback’s completion percentage and get the ball in the hands of his weapons, there’s no better way to do so than short designed passes. That’s an area where Thomas can absolutely eat along with Raymond and Luther Burden III. Williams’ completion percentage of 54.1 percent on such throws was 55th in the NFL among players with 10+ attempts. So, that’s an easy area to start when it comes to improvement.
Thomas was already seen catching screen passes with the second-team offense at minicamp and taking them to the house. His speed is just as deadly in short passes as it is on deep passes.
Johnson is going to have an absolute blast drawing up plays for this guy. The ball is in Thomas’ court now to prove to the staff how much of the offense he can handle once he returns for training camp.