Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas was benched after an unnecessary roughness penalty in the second quarter of their Week 9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Head coach Ben Johnson made his stance clear on what he thought about the penalty after the game.
"Yeah, I don't know that he played on offense after that," said Johnson.
It is clear that he is putting the onus on Thomas for his actions.
Chicago Bears HC admits benching rookie WR Zavion Thomas
Thomas shoved cornerback Jacob Parrish after a play. Parrish shoved back, and Thomas responded with a shove that reached the helmet. This is a clear penalty and set the Bears back while they were leading 14-3. Thomas only played five snaps on offense in the game.
This has been a disappointing season for the rookie third-round pick, especially on offense.
Thomas has only exceeded 10 snaps in a game three times. He was inactive in Week 1, and only played two snaps in Week 2. He jumped to eight snaps and nine snaps in the following weeks.
Thomas had 15 snaps on offense in Week 5, but has not played more than that. He only had 10 snaps in Week 6, five snaps in Week 7, and 13 snaps in Week 8. After jumping to 13 snaps and getting on the field for five snaps early in Week 9, it looked like the team was trying to increase his workload.
He has seven catches this season, and six of them have come after Week 5. He had one catch for four yards last week, and this week he had a 13-yard catch, leading to his penalty.
Still, for a player to be drafted as high as he was and have just seven catches for 54 yards is disappointing so far. He is averaging 1.54 yards per route run. So, he is moderately productive when he gets on the field. However, he is not seeing the field enough to get a good feel for what he can bring.
After this incident, it does not appear as though he will see the field much in the coming weeks, either.
The team has Luther Burden and Rome Odunze leading the way. Kalif Raymond is a trusted number three and a veteran who knows the offense. It was already hard for Thomas to carve out a role. He did not take advantage of his chance, making it harder for next time.
| More Bears on DaWindyCity |
Add us as a preferred source on Google