Bears maintain focus on tight end by drafting Stanford’s Sam Roush in third round
The tight end position has increased in importance in the NFL over the past few years.
Bears coach Ben Johnson has noticed.
A year after using the No. 10 overall pick to select Colston Loveland, the Bears brought in another tight end in the third round of the NFL draft on Friday. Chicago selected Stanford tight end Sam Roush at No. 69.
“I didn’t think that I was in the cards for the Bears,” Roush told reporters virtually Friday night. “But I’m freaking fired up.”
The Bears originally had two second-round picks heading into Friday. But they traded out of No. 60 with the Tennessee Titans. The Bears got the No. 69 and No. 144 picks.
Roush comes from a long line of family members who played in the NFL. His uncles, Merlin Olsen and Orrin Olsen, and grandfather Phil Olsen all played in the NFL, while his father played college football at Duke.
He spent four seasons at Stanford, playing in 48 games. Roush started mostly playing special teams before he earned a role offensively. He caught 49 passes for 454 yards and two touchdowns as a senior. Roush was named to the all-ACC second team.
At 6-foot-6, 267 pounds, Roush has good size to make a difference both as a blocker and a receiver. He is expected to be a “Y” tight end who will mostly block in the NFL.
“I love blocking,” Roush said. “The O-linemen are some of my favorite people on the team, and I love getting in the trenches with them and getting dirty, and that’s a huge part of my game that I take so much pride in, and I never want to let that go. No matter how many catches you have, you always gotta come back to your roots.
“I feel like blocking is the gritty roots part of football that I feel like, that’s how you play the game the right way is, you know, putting your head down when you know you’re not getting credit for it and taking one for the team.”
The move was a bit of a surprise since tight end wasn’t expected to be a need for the team heading into the draft.
Chicago used a top pick on Loveland, who led the team in receiving yards last season. Veteran Cole Kmet found his new role in Johnson’s offense and fit in well as a blocking tight end to create a dynamic duo with Loveland last season.
But the Bears weren’t scared off on having too many tight ends in the room, as Johnson enjoys running plenty of two-tight end sets.
“I think the nice thing with Sam is that he’s got the versatility to play both in-line and off the ball,” Bears director of player personnel Trey Koziol said. “So now all of a sudden, you’ve got three versatile tight ends who can each do a little bit of everything. We always talk about adding competition to the room, but it really adds a lot of versatility into the offense.”
Roush looks forward to the opportunity of playing with Loveland and Kmet next season. He planned on learning as much as he can from them as he tries to find his role in the NFL.
“I bring a physical presence to the field when I’m on it,” Roush said. “I want to make an impact in every possible aspect of the game. Obviously, as a rookie coming in, like, I’m playing a lot of special teams, I want to make an impact doing that. I think in the run game, I can be a huge value. That’s something that I pride myself in a lot, is my blocking and ability to kind of get on people and wear them down throughout the game.”