Bears Rookie Gets Honest About Adjusting to NFL

Bears Rookie

The thing that stands out immediately about Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Tyler Scott is his ability to separate.

He did run a 4.44 40-yard dash at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. But just listening to Scott discuss teammate DJ Moore, it quickly becomes clear just how much goes into getting that separation beyond just natural gifts. It also becomes clear how committed Scott is to refining his game.

Bears Rookie Not Relying on Physical Ability to Make Mark

Tyler Scott Watching DJ Moore’s Technique

“In the NFL, it’s a lot more disguises of coverages,” Scott said after practice on August 10. “It’s a lot more different things that you have to look out and see. So that’s also been another thing that, on top of just knowing alignments and assignments and things of that nature.

“Once you get those things down it’s like you gotta look up all right now. And so those are just all the processes that you kind of go through and that’s also been you know a tough learning curve for me. It’s just kind of really being able to use my eyes and see, okay, it’s cover two. Is it cover one? What’s the nickel doing? What’s the safety doing? Those type of things.”

Scott is fortunate to enter a receiver room that won’t need to lean on him early on as he gets those nuances of the game down.

It also has great examples to learn from with DJ Moore at the top of the list and pecking order.

Bears WR DJ Moore is a Model of Consistency

“I wouldn’t say necessarily I’m trying to emulate DJ,” Scott clarified when asked directly what things from Moore he was trying to emulate. “I’m just trying to take little tidbits of kind of what he does.”

“Just trying to figure out, okay, how does he read defenses? When he comes off the ball, how does him coming off the ball, how does that affect the DB? Whether that’s a tempo, coming off the ball hard, or maybe that’s just more of a lackadaisical or just kind of tempo down maybe to run play, or whatever. Just kind of that change of pace that he plays with to be able to kind of read and know when he’s getting the ball.”

This is not the first time Scott has spoken highly of Moore. He has specifically of trying to read just what the veteran is doing coming off the line.

“I could watch one play and think, ‘Oh, he’s about to run a in route and it did not look like an in route,” Scott said on the “Under Center Podcast” on July 5. “Or he’s about to run a different route, but it looks exactly how it did before you know so he just knows how to…make everything look the same.”

That can leave the defender guessing as well. It can lead to advantageous things like pass interference calls which move the chains just as a reception would. But for Moore, it’s just about being consistent.

“You just gotta play fast,” Moore said on August 9. “When they a half a second too late, it’s going to be a pass interference because I’m playing fast no matter what.”

Nuance the ‘Biggest Thing’ for Tyler Scott

But there is undoubtedly more to it than that. His understanding of the defense is as evident as his body control. And those types of things are what Scott is trying to glean from studying Moore.

“I think those are the type of things: Just kind of know when you’re getting the ball and knowing kind of where to find the soft spots in the defense. So I think uh that that’s the biggest thing.”

Scott’s first chance to show what he can do will come on August 12. That is when the Bears host the Tennessee Titans in the preseason opener.