Who is Chicago Bears rookie tight end Sam Roush?

The Chicago Bears made a bit of a shocking pick in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft when they selected Stanford tight end Sam Roush. It wasn’t a big position of need for the Bears, but with how the board fell, Ryan Poles, Ben Johnson and the staff felt comfortable enough to go ahead and do it.

By adding Roush, the Bears now have a new third tight end behind Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet. He’s a player that figures to play that TE3 role and can develop as the years go on. Roush is exactly what the Bears are looking for in terms of versatility, being able to block and receive as a tight end.

But who is he exactly?

Scouting report on Chicago Bears TE Sam Roush

The Stanford tight end played four seasons with the Cardinal, catching 119 passes for 1,201 yards and four touchdowns. He was considered anywhere from TE3-TE6 depending on the draft analyst. Here is a scouting report on Sam Roush via Lance Zierlein of NFL.com:

In a draft landscape full of pass-catching tight ends, Roush stands out as one of the few plug-and-play “Y” tight ends (in-line blocking TE) available. He can make cut-off blocks in zone and combo blocks in gap schemes. He holds his own in pass protection, too. As a receiver, he’s not stiff, but he lacks elusiveness underneath. He needs to apply more of his tough playing style to win combat catches and expand his role beyond run blocker/zone beater. While his catch production might draw questions, his size, toughness and pro-ready blocking profile could push him into Day 2 consideration.

Interestingly enough, Zierlein compares him to Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox.

Where does Sam Roush fit on the Bears?

The pick might be a little surprising seeing that the Bears already have two good tight ends in Kmet and Loveland. However, with Ben Johnson loving to use 13 personnel, Roush can fit in as the third tight end.

This allows the Bears to have some versatility at the position and allow Roush develop. Last season, the Bears used three tight ends a lot as you can see by the snap counts below:

#Bears TE snap counts last season:

Cole Kmet 768 (66.5%)
Colston Loveland 701 (60.7%)
Durham Smythe 239 (25.3%)

Kmet isn’t going anywhere this offseason.

— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) April 25, 2026

What does this mean for the tight end position?

We know the top two guys son the Bears at tight end are Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet. The Bears drafted Loveland at No. 10 last season and he enjoyed a breakout rookie season. For Kmet, he’s entering year seven and had a strong year. The Bears just restructured Kmet’s contract and despite that, I don’t believe he’s going anywhere.

Also on the roster are Nikola Kalinic, Stephen Carlson and Qadir Ismail. This will create some more competition for that TE3 spot, which should belong to Roush early on. I don’t see the Bears moving away from Kmet by any means and I think Johnson will make this work in terms of the personnel he wants to use moving forward.

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