Zavion Thomas Rest-of-Season Outlook

Published June 16, 2026. Kept for reference; the take above replaces it.

The Bears spent the 89th pick on Thomas, betting on track-meet speed rather than college production, and the bet is a gamble. His LSU profile is thin: a target share that sat in the 19th percentile and just 1.52 yards per route run, the kind of efficiency that makes the early selection a head-scratcher. At 5-foot-10 and 22 years old, he lands behind a reshuffled but still busy pass-catching room, and barring injuries ahead of him he has a steep climb toward weekly relevance.

The one real path is scheme. Ben Johnson reportedly wants a gadget role that mixes in backfield snaps, the same blueprint Green Bay used with Savion Williams. That could manufacture touches his route metrics never would. Still, Year 1 looks limited, and he is rostered in roughly 1% of leagues for good reason. Leave him on the wire and revisit only if his snap count climbs midseason.