Setting Rookie Expectations for Zah Frazier
Zah Frazier was an older prospect who only started one season at UTSA. However, it was an impressive season in which he demonstrated instinctual playmaking ability and rock-solid coverage skills.
In short, he was an absolute revelation in his final year with the Roadrunners.
Can we expect him to provide a similar impact for the Bears?
It’s not hard to see Frazier’s appeal to the Bears’ front office. He ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine at 6’3″ and 186 pounds. His 9.28 RAS score ranked 181 out of 2500 graded corners since 1987. That’s… pretty darn good. On paper, he’s a similar athletic marvel to Chicago’s first day three pick in Ruben Hyppolite II. They might not be big names from high-profile schools, but you can’t fault the Bears for prioritizing the athletic outliers. That type of profile has the best hit rate on day three.
If you squint (really hard), you can see shades of Tariq Woolen in Frazier’s game. They both played at UTSA, were selected in the fifth round, and are rare height-weight-speed specimens. Most importantly, for the sake of this article, they were both RAW coming out of college. Frazier began his collegiate career at Southern Illinois before transferring to Coffeyville Community College. After two years of standout play at the JUCO level, he landed at UTSA following another bout with the portal. All in all, the late bloomer only started ten games at the Division I level.
Some might think Woolen was a finished product right out of the gate because he grabbed six interceptions in his rookie year, but he relied heavily on his otherworldly athleticism to make that impact. His 69.1 PFF grade ranked 35th at the position as a rookie (which is still great for a fifth-round pick).
I mention Woolen because, if Frazier eventually develops into a starter, they will always be compared. Not only do they have remarkably similar athleticism, but they are also two of the only players to get drafted from UTSA (they’ve had five in total). Still, it’s vital to recognize the difference between the situations both players are entering as rookies. The Seahawks’ cornerback room was in shambles. Michael Jackson and Coby Bryant finished the year with PFF grades of 60.1 and 58.9, respectively. Absolutely hideous. Frazier will have a much more difficult path to playing time with Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson, and Terrell Smith all ahead of him on the depth chart.
While Frazier landing a starting job might be a long shot, the chances of one being available at some point are greater than zero. I know I wasn’t the only one who noticed the absence of Tyrique Stevenson from the recent social media posts about the secondary putting in work this offseason. Now, it’s easy to overreact to something like that in July (so I’m going to try not to), but it still feels significant considering what everyone knows happened in the Commanders game last year, and the domino effect it had for the rest of the season.
The Bears have an entirely new coaching staff, and everyone is entering the year on an even playing field. That’s why they don’t have an official depth chart heading into training camp. I still think the coaches will recognize Stevenson’s talent and attempt to maximize his potential. He will get the first crack at the starting outside cornerback job if he comes to camp ready to play. However, he doesn’t have much room for error. Smith (who WAS training with the rest of the starting secondary) is already breathing down his neck, and Frazier impressing enough to carve out a role for himself isn’t out of the realm of possibilities.
Besides his unicorn athleticism, another thing that excites me about Frazier was just how pumped new cornerbacks coach Al Harris was to get him in the building.
In the draft episode of the Bears’ 1920 Football Drive series, Ryan Poles pulled up a text from February where he told him to keep an eye out for Frazier.
Harris, who previously helped DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs reach All-Pro status during his time in Dallas, clearly sees something on his film that he can work with.
All in all, barring an injury, I don’t really expect Frazier to provide much on defense in year one. The position is just too talented to expect a year-one breakout. Still, I’ll be interested to see whether Harris and Dennis Allen can turn him into a contributor down the road. He’s a moldable ball of clay with two unteachable qualities: size and speed.
Prediction: 13 tackles, 1 pass deflection
PHOTO: Kirby Lee/Imagn Images
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Categorized:Bears