Zavion Thomas is already torching the Bears’ first-team defense at OTAs — Ben Johnson may have found his next game-breaking weapon
It didn’t take long for Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas to turn heads working with quarterback Caleb Williams and the first-team offense during OTAs on Thursday.
When the Chicago Bears drafted rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas in the third-round, a lot of people were skeptical about the pick believing the Bears “reached” on the speedy play-maker out of LSU. But, head coach Ben Johnson saw a player with an ability that “doesn’t grow on trees” he simply couldn’t pass up on adding.
Now that Thomas is in the building in Chicago, the question became how soon could the team’s newest offensive weapon get up to speed after seeing things develop slowly last season with Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III.
“He’s going to have to earn it,” OC Press Taylor said. “And that comes in the meeting room first; earning some trust to get your reps, showing that you can be trusted when you get there and then being able to do something with it. Just like anybody, he’s going to put in a lot of time, put in a lot of work, and we’ll see where he goes.”
Turns out, it wasn’t going to take as much time for Thomas to start showing out with the first-team offense.
Zavion Thomas makes highlight play with the first-team offense during Chicago Bears OTAs
During Thursday’s OTA session, Thomas was already working in with the first-team offense and catching passes from quarterback Caleb Williams. Including this big play down the sideline in which Thomas absolutely dusted fourth-year cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, putting his 4.28 speed on display.
“I see he’s an electric player,” Burden said of Thomas speaking with reporters after Thursday’s practice. “He had a great fade ball today. He’s going to be a great player for us and make big plays for us this year. It’s going to be exciting to watch.”
When Thomas was first drafted, many expected him to only contribute as a returner on special teams given the number of mouths to feed on offense. Clearly, that’s not going to be the case. Johnson has a plan to get this guy integrated into the offense as soon as possible.
That speed is going to be dangerous as shown by that play from Thursday’s session. The Bears also will benefit greatly from having that true deep threat who can help open things up underneath for Chicago’s offense. And it’s not just the downfield speed, this guy is just as elusive with the ball in his hands, making him a short-yardage threat as well.
“We all have a vision for how this guy could really help us,” Johnson said of Thomas.
It’s encouraging to see the rookie already building that connection with Williams and the first-team offense. He’s going to be a big-time player for this team in more ways than one.