What the Bears have in Olamide Zaccheaus is a potentially explosive slot receiver and a competitor for the punt return job.
What the Bears have above all else is an undersized and overlooked receiver who went undrafted but has overachieved as a pass catcher who can break a big gain on occasion.
Zaccheaus set an NFL record with the first reception of his career. He caught a 93-yard touchdown pass against Carolina in 2019 from Matt Ryan, the longest reception ever for someone on their first career catch.
Afterward he was a bit impressed by his own effort and hopeful of having a good NFL career.
"Undrafted, overlooked, a lot of things not going my way, but I just know I'm confident in what I can do and I just feel like I can help the team in any way I can," he told Kelsey Conway of the Falcons website.
Zaccheaus has played out of the slot 909 times and wide 846, so he is basically a slot/Z-type receiver at 5-foot-8, 193 pounds.
Going into his seventh year, Zaccheaus benefited last year from the passing of Jayden Daniels with a career-best 70.3% completion percentage. His 284 yards after the catch was a career best, and he was 18th in the league among wide receivers at average yards after the catch per reception at 6.3.
Johnson might have had his eye on Zaccheaus because he has a reputation for being tough and a willing blocker, although not necessarily real effective. He hustles and has a description much like that of Detroit wide receiver Kalif Raymond, who is a better return man.
Not everything was good, though. He had five dropped passes and that was tied for 38th most in the league. It wasn't a trend of any sort as he never had this issue in other seasons.
The Bears can definitely use a punt returner and he could be their new version of DeAndre Carter, who returned punts last year. However, he has never really been much of a kick returner and his punt return experience is very limited.
The 17 punts he returned for a good 10.5-yard average was easily the most of his career. He had only three other punt returns in his career.
The Bears haven't had a regular punt returner who averaged 10.5 yards since Jakeem Grant averaged 13.9 yards in 2021. Josh Blackwell did average over 20 yards last year but only had seven returns and the average was that high because he made the fake punt return touchdown against the Packers.
Expect Zaccheaus to be thrown into the mix at slot receiver with Tyler Scott and whoever else they can come up with, possibly in the draft.
What the Bears have in Olamide Zaccheaus is a potentially explosive slot receiver and a competitor for the punt return job.
What they have above all else is an undersized and overlooked receiver who went undrafted but has overachieved as a pass catcher who can break a big gain on occasion.
Zaccheaus set an NFL record with the first reception of his career. He caught a 93-yard touchdown pass against Carolina in 2019 from Matt Ryan, the longest reception ever for someone on their first catch.
Afterward he was a bit impressed by his own effort and hopeful of having a good NFL career.
"Undrafted, overlooked, a lot of things not going my way, but I just know I'm confident in what I can do and I just feel like I can help the team in any way I can," he told Kelsey Conway of the Falcons website.
Zaccheaus has played out of the slot 909 times and wide 846, so he is basically a slot/Z-type receiver at 5-foot-8, 193 pounds.
Going into his seventh year, Zaccheaus benefited last year from the passing of Jayden Daniels with a career-best 70.3% completion percentage. His 284 yards after the catch was a career best, and he was 18th in the league among wide receivers at average yards after the catch per reception at 6.3.
Not everything was good, though. He had five dropped passes and that was tied for 38th most in the league. It wasn't a trend of any sort as he never had this issue in other seasons.
The Bears can definitely use a punt returner and he could be their new version of DeAndre Carter, who returned punts last year. However, he has never really been much of a kick returner and his punt return experience is very limited.
The 17 punts he returned for a good 10.5-yard average was easily the most of his career. He had only three other punt returns in his career.
The Bears haven't had a regular punt returner who averaged 10.5 yards since Jakeem Grant averaged 13.9 yards in 2021. Josh Blackwell did average over 20 yards last year but only had seven returns and the average was that high because he made the fake punt return touchdown against the Packers.
Expect Zaccheaus to be thrown into the mix at slot receiver with Tyler Scott and whoever else they can come up with, possibly in the draft.
They'd need to come up with a real find in the draft to find one comparable to the one Johnson is used to having in his offense, Amon-Ra St. Brown. But St. Brown was a fourth-round pick, so it is possible.
