It's a lot to ask a fourth-round rookie receiver to come into the NFL and make an immediate impact. The Bears aren't expecting Tyler Scott to be a go-to guy right out of the chute, but they have high hopes that he will be an integral part of their passing attack this fall.
But Scott isn't a typical fourth-round receiver. It's rare to find a receiver with legitimate 4.21 Junior Olympic speed that translates to the field. But to find a player with that rare gift in the fourth round, who was also forged by thousands of reps against one of the NFL's best corners, borders on fiction.
But that's what the Bears found in Tyler Scott. The converted running back learned nuances of playing receiver, from eye manipulation to mirroring, while facing Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner and Coby Bryant every day in practice during his first two seasons in Cincinnati.
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Garnder was drafted fourth overall by the New York Jets in 2022. He won Defensive Rookie of the Year after giving up just two touchdowns and a completion rate of 48.1 percent when targeted. Bryant won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's best defensive back for the 2021 college football season. The Seattle Seahawks selected Bryant in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Gardner is your prototypical long, physical man corner, while Bryant thrives off-man. Facing two legitimate NFL corners, including one of the league's best in Gardner, every day for two years has allowed Scott to enter the NFL with much less of a learning curve.
"Coby Bryant was a Jim Thorpe Award winner when I was there, and then at the same time you had on the other side of the field, you know, dude was a Rookie of the Year," Scott told NBC Sports Chicago on the latest episode of the Under Center Podcast. "So you're going against those two guys day in and day out, you learn a lot like in practice, like, every day, one-on-one, and you got so many different periods and sessions. And they see the same type of offense, so they're already good in their own right, but then they already know what's coming as well. So you got to learn how to get open against somebody who already knows what's coming and, you know, are good in the way that they are. So, it definitely gave me a leg up for sure.
"Because just their mentalities, just the way they approach the game, and just the two different guys as far as the way they played the game. You know, Coby, like I said, was more of an off guy who's gonna sit back read coverage. There was times where I would walk out there, and he would tell me my route, you know, I would lineup, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I know you got to dig in, or you got this post coming.’ And I'm just like, ‘Alright, man, at least don't play the route.’ But he would tell me those types of things. So it was, it was tough going against that every day in practice, but ultimately made me better because I had to get open against somebody who already knew what was coming. And so when it got into the game, it was so easy because it was, you know, I had to learn how to mirror things up and really be a good actor when it came to them. And so when I got in the game, you know, I could have guys turned around and flip around and do all these different things because the caliber I was going against."
The practice battles with Gardner and Bryant prepared Scott for the quality of corner he will see on a down-to-down basis in the NFL. As he's already learned during his short time at Halas Hall, on Sundays, things are different. Those practice sessions at Cincinnati have become the norm.
"Jaylon Johnson, he came back, I think, kind of towards the later half of OTAs," Scott told NBC Sports Chicago. "And I started seeing him a little bit in some of my reps, and I got a chance to watch him just kind of watching this game, and then I got a chance to go against him a little bit and one thing I can say is that his mentals, as far as just his recognition of what's going on in front of him. He's very smart. And I think that's kind of the biggest difference going against, you know, the guys in the NFL, You know, in college, there's certain things you can get away with, and in the NFL, you can't get away with a lot of different things, you have to be on point. And, you know, just going against guys like him, it was like, man, he, he knows what he's doing, he knows what's coming."
Scott joins the Bears during an offseason where general manager Ryan Poles also added top wide receiver DJ Moore in a trade with the Carolina Panthers. With Moore, Darnell Mooney, and Chase Claypool spearheading the wide receiver room, Scott won't have too much put on his plate to begin his Bears tenure.
He's here to be a ceiling raiser for quarterback Justin Fields and the passing attack. His vertical-stretching ability should pair well with Fields' ability to throw the deep ball. If Scott can earn consistent snaps and force defenses to respect him, that will force the safeties back and open up the intermediate area of the field for everyone else.
While the Bears will only ask Scott to be a bonus piece of the passing game this season, the rookie, hardened by battles with Gardner and Bryant, plans to be a focal point of an improved Bears' offense.
"As far as expectations, you know, the biggest thing is for me -- I have a pretty heavy room as far as these guys that have been there, done that," Scott told NBC Sports Chicago. "They have a lot of talent. But for me, my mindset has always been: Be so good that they have to put you in the game. No matter who's around, you have to be so good that they have to have you be out there -- have to put you out there."
That's the confidence of a receiver who probably lost countless battles with Gardner and Bryant but also hung his fair share of pelts on the wall.
That's what the Bears saw when they drafted Scott. They saw the blistering speed, yes. They saw how that could complement Fields. But they also saw a rookie who will be unafraid of the challenge he faces each Sunday.
Because Tyler Scott already knows what that looks and feels like. And he knows what it takes to beat it.