Rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas will have to go through the growing pains that every player on the Chicago Bears’ offense experienced during the 2025 season.
Learning a complex offense like Johnson's takes time, reps, and plenty of mistakes. Bears offensive coordinator Press Taylor shared how the team will acclimate Thomas to the scheme in his rookie season.
“There's always a fine line of that,” Taylor said. “I think just one year in, we've kind of operated in just the fire hose method of let's throw a ton at him and see what he can handle and see how he can bounce back from mistakes, whether it's mental errors or physical errors throughout the day, how he’s going to bounce back the next day and what they can handle because we're okay with guys failing through practice. That's a big part of this thing. We have plenty of reps. We have plenty of walk-throughs throughout the course of it that will get it corrected, and then 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.
Again, nobody's going to be a finished product by the end of training camp. We expect these guys just, you look at (TE) Colston (Loveland), Luther, some of the rookies, (OL) Ozzy (Trapilo), the rookies that contributed to us last year, and it didn't take off Week 1. It didn't take off necessarily Week 7, and by the end of the year, you see where these guys are at. We're going to give all these guys an opportunity to grow.”
Can Zavion Thomas have an impact on Bears' offense in 2026?
The Bears selected Thomas with the 89th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound receiver ran the third-fastest 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine.
With Thomas possessing elite speed, Johnson can utilize the rookie playmaker in a variety of ways to create explosive plays. Johnson likes to run the ball and create big plays from the backfield. Thomas rushed for 99 yards and one touchdown on 19 attempts. The rookie should get his own special package with him in the backfield, which would create more complications for opposing defenses.
The only real obstacle prohibiting that from happening is Thomas’ ability to grasp the offense. The time to make mistakes is right now in training camp, so issues don't linger into the regular season.
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If the rookie can handle the high volume of information, Thomas has an opportunity to create some big plays for the Bears’ offense in his rookie season.
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