Chicago wasted no time getting its rookie tight end signed, sealed and delivered. Word came down that Sam Roush put pen to paper on his 4-year rookie deal worth $7.35 million, closing the book on the Bears' 2026 draft class before training camp even opens.
Bears signed second-round pick, tight end Sam Roush, to his rookie four-year, $7.35 million contract.
Roush was Chicago's No. 69 overall pick out of Stanford, where he spent 4 seasons and made 34 starts at tight end. He wasn't brought in to be a pass-catching centerpiece — he's walking into a room with Cole Kmet entrenched as the starter and Colston Loveland already establishing himself as a second-year weapon. Roush profiles as the grinder of the group, the guy who can line up in-line, seal an edge and let Ben Johnson lean into heavier personnel packages.
That said, he's not just a blocking robot. As a team captain during his final season at Stanford, Roush posted a career-best 49 receptions and earned Second-Team All-ACC honors, capping a college career that included 119 catches for 1,201 yards and 4 touchdowns. It's the kind of resume that suggests a tight end who can be more than a TE3 afterthought if given real snaps.
For the Bears, this signing is less about a splashy headline and more about housekeeping — getting every drafted rookie locked into camp with zero contract drama hanging over the building. With Johnson's offense leaning on multiple tight end sets, Roush gives Chicago a third body who can rotate in without a drop-off in blocking, even if the catches stay modest early on.
The real story now shifts to camp battles. Roush arrives as TE3 on paper, but Bears fans have seen depth charts get scrambled fast when a rookie shows he can do more than expected. Whether he pushes for real snaps behind Kmet and Loveland will be one of the smaller but telling subplots of Chicago's summer.