Bears rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas missed the first two preseason games with a knee injury. When he finally got on the field on Saturday, he put on a show.
Thomas caught a pass from Tyson Bagent and raced 97 yards to the end zone on his very first NFL play, and finished his first preseason game with five catches for 140 yards, plus a 31-yard punt return and a 22-yard kickoff return.
Asked if anyone had a chance of catching him on his long touchdown, the speedy Thomas said he didn’t know which Titans player was chasing him, but answered, “Nah, he didn’t have a chance.”
Thomas said that even while he couldn’t practice because of his knee, older players were helping him prepare for the moment when he would be on the field, so he expected to play well once he got medical clearance.
“It felt amazing. The preparation put into it, it was something that I expected,” Thomas said.
Thomas didn’t put up big numbers during his four years of college football (two at Mississippi State and two at LSU), but he put up an eye-popping number at the Scouting Combine: 4.28 seconds in the 40-yard dash. That got him plenty of attention, and the Bears took a chance on him in the third round.
Bagent knows Thomas’s speed is a huge asset to the Bears’ offense.
“Give Zavion a chance and then you’re able to see that speed, which is a big reason why he’s here,” Bagent said. “I think that was Zavion Thomas’s first play in the NFL, so greatest start in NFL history.”
