Grading Chicago Bears rookies through seven weeks of 2023

Round 3 Chicago Bears DT Zacch Pickens

Zahcc Pickens has shown better in run defense, while Gervon Dexter has been the better pass rusher. Pickens has played 107 snaps this season, and 45 of them have come against the run. So, 57.9% of his snaps are passing downs, while Dexter is at 66% this season, and 83% since week five. It is clear that they try to get Pickens on the field for the run defense snaps if they are subbing one of the two into the game.

Pickens had a solid game on limited snaps against the Vikings but struggled with a bigger role against Las Vegas.

Round 4 Chicago Bears RB Roschon Johnson

The start to the season was promising for Roschon Johnson. Johnson had 17 rushes for 90 yards over the first three weeks and was demanding a bigger workload. Against Denver, he had just five rushes for 13 yards despite the team having a big lead and needing to use a power back to grind out the game. He started to play more against Washington, but after three rushes for 19 yards, he left with a concussion.

He left Thursday night, week five, then missed weeks six and seven with the concussion. This is concerning. He is slowly returning to practice this week, but we are not sure of his week eight status, either.