Bears rookie WR Tyler Scott hoping to exploit Chargers' weak pass defense
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chargers' league-worst pass defense could be good news for rookie Bears wide receiver Tyler Scott, who's been getting more gameday opportunities the past couple weeks.
Scott, a converted running back, really has only been playing receiver for 3 years. How is the rookie wide receiver adjusting to life in the NFL?
"It's different things on and off the field for sure. You know, you gotta adjust to the lifestyle off the field – whether it's the timing, the schedule, the time management," he said.
He said the biggest adjustment at the NFL level has been the mental aspect of the game.
"You know, everyone's skilled here. Everyone's got a great skill set. Everybody was the guy back at their college. But I think the thing that separates everyone is the mental, which helps the game slow down for those guys, which is what guys talk about the speed of the game," he said. "It's started happening for me as far as that. … Because people would ask me, like, 'What do you mean by the speed of the game?' or 'How has the speed of the game changed?' and I always say that it's not like I catch the ball, and this guy is fast enough to catch up to me. It's his mind is faster than my legs."
Scott said, between the reps in practice, and a significant increase in the number of game snaps the past two weeks, the game has started to slow down for him.
"I mean, the more reps you get, the more you get established. You can't teach experience. I think that's the biggest thing, you can't teach that," he said. "Just getting those live reps, with the jitters, the emotions, all those things continues to help improve my game, and as I go each week, I can look up at defenses now and see, okay, what are they doing, look at tendencies, things of that nature. Even the playbook, for me, that was something that was huge, just me learning the playbook coming in, and now being more established, being confident, and knowing what I'm doing."
What has it been like working with undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent as the starting quarterback since Justin Fields went down with a thumb injury, after Bagent and Scott have worked closely together in practice since the start of summer training?
"We came in together during rookie minicamp. You know, through rookie minicamp, and then through OTAs, and then through training camp. So we definitely had a little rapport together," he said.
As part of the tradition of pranking rookies, Scott was handed a $20,501.81 restaurant bill for a group dinner with teammates during training camp in August. Scott appeared dumbfounded as players laughed at him holding the tab, but he laughed at the memory.
"It's behind us. You know, it's great for the memory to tell the kids, and things of that nature, but yeah, I forgave them. They've been good to me ever since. They haven't done anything quite like that since, so all is forgiven. It's all good," he said.
It turned out the $20,000 tab wasn't real, and Scott didn't have to pay the actual bill. Fellow wide receiver D.J. Moore had paid the tab in advance, and it was actually around $5,000.
