Chicago Bears rookie report: How draft picks — including Darnell Wright and Gervon Dexter — have fared through 12 games
Chicago Bears rookie running back Roschon Johnson had one of the biggest games of his NFL career last week in a 12-10 win against the Minnesota Vikings.
With D’Onta Foreman out with ankle and shin injuries and Khalil Herbert still getting back to his old self after an ankle issue, Johnson received more work than he had all season. The 2023 fourth-round pick out of Texas played 74% of the offensive snaps — his previous high was 45% — and logged a career-high 10 carries for 35 yards and five catches for 40 yards as the Bears utilized their screen and short passing game.
There was plenty of good to see from Johnson’s performance. A clip of him taking out two Vikings defenders while protecting quarterback Justin Fields went viral after the game. But coach Matt Eberflus also noted there were “a couple of hiccups” in pass protection against the high-pressure defense.
Johnson played a part in two of the Vikings’ three sacks of Fields. He whiffed against linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. on one. And in the fourth quarter, safety Josh Metellus pushed Johnson aside to help slow Fields as Danielle Hunter stripped the quarterback of the football.
“He’s still a rookie and he’s got a lot of situations that he hasn’t seen yet in real time and game situations,” Eberflus said. “But he’s a heck of a worker, super smart. He’s a tough guy and he’s one of our better protectors, so he’ll continue to work on that.”
Eberflus has talked a lot this season about the learning curves for Bears rookies. Of the 10 players drafted, eight have received significant opportunities over the first 12 games and two are full-time starters. An undrafted rookie made a huge contribution midseason.
And like with Johnson’s game Monday, there have been a lot of good moments — and a lot of hiccups the rookies have tried to manage.
“It’s one thing to react to something in the heat of the moment,” Eberflus said. “I always tell guys that you have to step back after the performance and look at it with your coach with a clear eye and then really look to improve on that.
“Because there are a lot of things that can come at you if you pay attention to too many things, and what’s important is what’s on tape and what you and your coach are saying about the fundamentals. Then you go right to the practice field and work on those fundamentals and techniques.”
As the Bears return from their bye week to prepare for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field, here’s a look at how the rookies have fared through 12 games.
The first-round pick
When offensive line coach Chris Morgan spoke with reporters after the first Lions game, he pointed to the same mandate for Darnell Wright as he has all season: consistency.
Wright, the No. 10 pick in the 2023 draft, put together a strong performance against the Lions and Aidan Hutchinson, the latest in a long line of elite pass rushers Wright has battled.
But on the Bears’ last offensive play, while trailing the Lions 29-26, Hutchinson forced his way past Wright to strip Fields of the ball. As Wright tried to get to the football, he kicked it out of the back of the end zone for a safety. The Lions won 31-26.
“He has to stay on his angle a little bit more, use his length like we know he can and cup that side,” Morgan said. “It’s frustrating because there’s … 60 plays, 70 plays and they all count. He did a really good job (for most of the game). But they all count. He’s going to learn from that.”
Wright has had plenty of those learning moments this season, including in his second turn against the heavy Vikings rush. Pro Football Focus said he allowed three pressures and was graded at 59.1, about in the middle of his weekly grades this season.
In naming Wright to ESPN’s all-youngster team — made of the top players who are under 24 — analyst Matt Miller said Wright has run hot and cold: “He has allowed nine sacks — but his flashes in the run game are dominant with a win rate of 77%.”
PFF lists Wright as having allowed six sacks. Wright also is worst among Bears players with 10 penalties, according to Pro Football Reference. But Miller added that “the traits are there for him to become a star.”
“It’s about experiences,” Morgan said. “And because of the type of competitor he is, it’s only going to make him stronger and make him better. The goal is that it will never happen again. When something happens to you, you fix it and learn from it and move down the road.”
The cornerbacks
When second-round pick Tyrique Stevenson suffered a foot injury at the Walter Payton Center two days before the Vikings game, it was unfortunate timing. Stevenson was coming off a game against the Lions in which he had his first career interception and a forced fumble on special teams.
But the Bears didn’t flinch because they had another promising rookie ready. Terell Smith, whom the Bears picked in the fifth round out of Minnesota, jumped in to make his third start in place of Stevenson.
Smith started for cornerback Jaylon Johnson earlier in the season before missing five games with mononucleosis, and then he rotated in to get snaps against the Lions. Eberflus wasn’t surprised when the Vikings tried to attack Smith early and often.
They completed 7 of 8 passes for 45 yards and a 90.1 passer rating against Smith, according to PFF, but Eberflus said he thought Smith was strong and tackled well. He led the Bears with eight tackles.
“He’s mature beyond his years,” Eberflus said before the game. “He takes things in stride. He takes coaching really well. … He really soaks everything in. He’s technique-sound, fundamentally sound and he’s got really good speed. We like his size, being able to play against bigger receivers.”
Eberflus said he hopes Stevenson will return from his injury this season. The second-round pick has seven passes defended and 61 tackles with a 112.5 passer rating against him in 11 games, according to Pro Football Reference.
Before the Lions game, cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke recalled the ups and downs of former Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller during his rookie season. He said Stevenson also has experienced that, noting he was inconsistent against the New Orleans Saints but played well against the Carolina Panthers. Then he had his big game against the Lions.
“You’ll see really good flashes, and then you’ll see some plays where you’re going to be a little disappointed in him,” Hoke said. “But as long as he keeps playing physical, because that’s who he is and he needs to play that way. If he starts playing soft, it’s not good. For a rookie, where is that? Where do I fit? He’s still trying to figure it out.”
Eberflus spoke highly of Stevenson’s ability to move on from bad moments.
“You have to keep learning and put it in your file so you become a better pro,” Eberflus said. “What’s really good about him is he plays one play at a time. He flushes the play and goes to the next one — good, bad or indifferent.”
The defensive tackles
Gervon Dexter wasn’t ready to say he’s pleased with where he is through 12 games. But the three-technique tackle picked in the second round, is happy he’s making progress, something he attributes to being a smarter player — both understanding the game and how to utilize himself within it.
“Just reading my keys and understanding what’s happening to me, what type of blocks I’m getting or where the slide is going and things like that,” he said. “Just getting a little more knowledge for the game, a little more feel for the game as well.”
Dexter was talking after he made some big plays against the Lions. He had two quarterback hits and four pressures and also deflected a pass linebacker Tremaine Edmunds intercepted while playing a season-high 48% of the defensive snaps.
Dexter’s playing time has fluctuated as the Bears remain committed to a defensive line rotation that includes veteran tackles Justin Jones and Andrew Billings with Dexter and third-round pick Zacch Pickens. He logged just 20 snaps against the Vikings, with one quarterback hit but also a roughing-the-passer penalty. Overall he has seven quarterback hits and two passes defended, and Eberflus had seen enough to declare before the Vikings game that Dexter is “really doing a good job.”
“He’s getting his pads down,” Eberflus said. “He’s taking big steps. The approach is good. The steps toward the quarterback, everything’s pointing toward the quarterback — his toes, his hips. And he’s really attacking the line of scrimmage.
“He’s playing with length. The centers or the guards, they’re typically not as long, and for him to play with that length there is really impressive. And when he does it right, it looks right because you have a big man denting the pocket and the vision of the quarterback now is diminished.”
Meanwhile, Pickens has 16 tackles, a tackle for a loss, a half-sack, a quarterback hit and a forced fumble while playing 23% of the defensive snaps in 12 games.
Dexter said his approach has been to focus on incremental improvements.
“Of course (the Lions game) helps my confidence, but I’m just trying to get a percentage better each game, each week,” Dexter said. “So even if I hadn’t played well that game, just get better each week.”
The offensive skill
Fields has voiced support for more than one of the Bears rookies over the last couple of weeks, including Johnson after the Vikings game.
Johnson has 54 carries for 232 yards and a touchdown and 24 catches for 131 yards, and Fields said he is always trying to improve.
“His work ethic is unmatched,” Fields said. “You just see him working every day, grinding it out and just getting others around him better too. It’s really awesome to see him growing and getting better each and every week.”
Fields also offered encouraging words to wide receiver Tyler Scott before the Vikings game after Scott had a rough outing a week earlier. Against the Lions, Scott fumbled after a second-quarter catch and also misjudged a Fields deep ball that he couldn’t catch as the Bears were trying to hang on to their fourth-quarter lead.
Scott, a fourth-round pick, has 10 catches for 81 yards and six carries for 44 yards. He also has five kickoff returns for 108 yards. He hasn’t had more than two catches in a game and wasn’t targeted against the Vikings.
“I’m not losing faith in him one game, two games, however many games,” Fields said. “I’m going to keep going back to him. He’s going to be a great receiver. He has a lot of room to grow and he’s talented even now. He’s made a lot of plays for us this year on offense, special teams. He’s a speedster. Not many DBs can keep up with him.
“He had a tough game, but we’ve all had tough games. I’ve had a lot of tough games. It does nothing but make me better, make him better. At the end of the day, he’s a hard worker. He’s not going to let one, two, three games define who he is as a player. I have full faith in Tyler. Everybody else does too.”
Scott said after the game he needs to continue to log reps so he doesn’t make the mistake of misjudging a pass like that from Fields again.
“Tyler will make that the next time we give him that opportunity,” offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said.
The surprise
No player’s contribution was more unexpected than that of undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent, who went from playing at Division II Shepherd to starting four games for the Bears when Fields was out with a dislocated right thumb.
Bagent showed he at least can be a capable backup in the NFL as he helped the Bears to a 2-2 record. He completed 94 of 143 passes for 859 yards with three touchdowns, six interceptions, five sacks and three fumbles. The highlight came when he led a 30-12 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in his first career start; the lowlight was when he committed four turnovers in a loss to the Saints.
Eberflus said he saw Bagent grow in handling a rowdy road environment early in the Saints game before the sloppy second half. And he liked that he protected the football the next week against the Panthers.
“We never put a ceiling on players, but we certainly like where his floor is,” Eberflus said. “Guys can grow into certain spaces that they didn’t even think they could. So you have to give them that opportunity, but we certainly like where he is right now.”
Among other Bears draft picks, linebacker Noah Sewell, a fifth-rounder, has played in 10 games, primarily on special teams, with eight tackles and a forced fumble. He has been out the last two games with a knee injury.
Safety Kendall Williamson, a seventh-round pick, is on the Bears practice squad. The Atlanta Falcons signed defensive lineman Travis Bell, also a seventh-rounder, off the Bears practice squad.
