Bears rookie Roschon Johnson isn’t a running back by trade. At least, he didn’t used to be.
Despite his affinity for fellow Port Arthur, Texas native Jamal Charles, Johnson didn’t spend his youth with plans to become an NFL running back. He was a four-star quarterback coming out of high school, but fate had other plans for Johnson when he arrived at the University of Texas.
A rash of injuries to the Longhorns running back room forced Johnson to convert to running back – a position he never left at a school he never left.
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Learning the nuances and technique needed to be a good, University of Texas-level back took time. Lucky for Johnson, he shared a running back room with Bijan Robinson, a generational runner who the Atlanta Falcons selected with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Johnson describes himself as a “cerebral” back. That intellectual curiosity went into overdrive while sharing the field with Robinson.
Johnson studied Robinson intently, especially early on in his collegiate career. The goal was not to mimic a rare physical marvel but to understand what Robinson does that Johnson could implement and what was copyright of an ultra-rare athletic talent.
“I think we helped each other a lot,” Johnson told NBC Sports Chicago on the latest episode of the Under Center Podcast about learning from Robinson. “Just seeing how he did certain things. Just kind of getting a chance to watch somebody first and then go and take a rep. I kind of take mental notes when I take my reps. Kind of just seeing how he did certain things and seeing how all of our running backs at Texas – whether that be run plays, pass plays, run blocking – really just kind of taking notes from each other, little tad bits, things that we did well, things that we didn’t do well. Just kind of correcting each other and competing with each other in a healthy way. That definitely helped me a lot and it gave me an advantage as oppose to a lot of guys who hadn’t had the chance to play with somebody of the caliber of Bijan.”
But when Bijan went into full Bijan mode, Johnson also made sure to log that in his database. As a runner, knowing your style and how best to optimize what you do best is essential.
Watching Robinson is an excellent way to get a friendly reminder of that when you’re early in your running back infancy.
“There’s a lot of stuff that he can do that if you’re not born or if your body is not designed to do certain things, you’re just not going to do,” Johnson said with a chuckle about Robinson. “That was a good learning experience for me, it’s like with certain running backs, some guys like to spin, some guys like to pitter patter their feet three and four times before they make a move, some guys it’s one cut and go. It’s a lot of things that Bijan can do that a lot of guys on this earth just can’t do. So that was a good learning experience just to kind of see what he does and see just how his body moves and how he can defeat certain defenders and how he can do certain things. Just taking tadbits from what he did that I’ve learned from and applied it to my game and I think it’s helped me a lot.”
The Bears drafted Johnson in the fourth round in April’s draft, adding him to a running back room that includes veterans Khalil Herbert and D’Onta Foreman.
General manager Ryan Poles' focus on RAS (relative athletic score) was apparent in the 10 selections he made in the draft. But the Bears also seemed to focus on players who enter the NFL with a level of experience that comes from playing with or against elite talent in college.
For Johnson, it was time spent learning from and playing alongside Robinson.
Fellow fourth-round pick Tyler Scott spent years in an intense practice cauldron at Cincinnati, where he battled Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and Coby Bryant daily in practice.
Those constant reps against the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in Gardner and a Thorpe Award winner in Bryant helped mold Scott into an NFL receiver.
“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. Coby, like you said, was more of an off guy who’s going to sit back and read coverage. There was times when I would walk out there, and he would tell me my route. I would lineup, and he was like, ‘I know you got the dig in, or you go the 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 tough going against every day in practice, but ultimately made me better because I had to get open against somebody that 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 flipped around and do all these things because of the caliber I was going against.”
The Bears have high hopes for Johnson and Scott. The hope and belief are that both will have larger impacts this fall than typical fourth-round picks.
Daily experiences learning from and competing with the likes of Robinson, Gardner, and Bryant were proving grounds for Robinson and Scott long before they became Bears -- tests they aced where many would have failed.