Bears rookie wide receiver Tyler Scott showed off his speed early in training camp, beating cornerback Michael Ojemudia (a 4.45 speedster himself) on a go-route for downfield completion from Justin Fields on the second day of practice last week.
That speed — a 4.37 40-yard dash at Cincinnati’s pro day — got him this far. But it’s Scott’s ability to watch and learn from teammates like DJ Moore, Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool that likely will get him to the next step and give him the best chance to contribute as a rookie.
“I watch DJ and DJ is always one step ahead of everybody,” Scott said. “He sees things before it happens. That just comes from experience … watching film and things of that nature.”
The 5-11, 185-pound Scott, a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft (No. 133) from Louisville, faces an uphill battle to make an impact this season, with Moore, Mooney, Claypool and Equanimeous St. Brown among those ahead of him. But he has one advantage last year’s rookie hopeful, third-round pick Velus Jones, did not have — a better room to compete with and learn from.
Jones, the 71st pick of last year’s draft, entered a more modest receiver room — Mooney, St. Brown, Byron Pringle and Nsimba Webster in the front row. Scott faces more competition, but also gets the benefit of more experience and talent to learn from. Moore, for instance is the kind of receiver who makes every other guy in the room a little better.
Scott, 21, has a lot of receivers ahead of him, but that also is a benefit. Mooney was a fifth-round pick in 2020. He knows what it’s like to work his way up in the NFL.
“Mooney, he’s a guy that I love, because of his mind-set. He is his own man,” Scott said. “H’s just like, ‘Listen, do you, man. Just be you. Don’t be a robot. If you see something drawn up on paper, you’ve got to get it done. It’s football. They brought you here for a reason, and you’ve got to do things that separate you from the rest.’ I love that about him.”
Scott, in fact, is getting all sorts of help from everyone in the receiver room — including teammates he could be taking snaps from this season.
“EQ [St. Brown], a vet type of guy. He’s that guy that it’s the little things. Whether it’s after you catch the ball in drills, finishing up field or, ‘Hey, somebody just did something in front of you [in a drill], you need to be watching and paying attention just in case you are up next. You need to know so you don’t make the same mistake.
“And then Dante [Pettis], he’s out right now [on the non-football injury list], but he’s a guy who has been keeping an eye on me whenever I’m running routes … he just coaches me up. Coach will make a correction and he will ask me … ‘Hey, you know why he’s saying that?’ So we just kind of talk like that.”
That kind of support is one reason why Scott has made a good first impression. There’s a long way to go, but Scott is better off being in a crowded receiver room with experience for him to lean on than a wide-open one that would give him a better immediate opportunity.
“Woo, Tyler Scott — he’s fast, man. I love his speed,” Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said, responding like most coaches do when asked about Scott. “I love the fact that he is so dialed-in. Every time a correction is made, he never makes the same mistake twice. I love that about him, because it tells me that it’s important to him and he wants to be the best.”
