Zacch Pickens' Time is Now or Never

With ESPN's Courtney Cronin among many analysts believing Zacch Pickens won't make the Bears' 53-man roster for the 2025 season, the Bears' third-year defensive tackle needs the training camp of his life.

Zacch Pickens’ plane ticket home wasn’t open ended. His house isn’t on the market. He’s not planning on forwarding his mail anytime soon.

Still, as the Chicago Bears third-year tackle reported for training Tuesday, he knew his employment status is on shakier ground than an active volcano or a “Love Island USA” couple’s relationship.

With new coach Ben Johnson saying the team is operating without a depth chart as it begins work on a 2025 season it can’t afford to underachieve in, Pickens is a man playing with a running hourglass in his locker.

For No. 96, it’s now or never.

Windy City Gridiron calls Pickens the Bears’ top roster bubble player as practice opens. The South Carolina product is still struggling to pay the Bears’ back on their third-round investment in him in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Medium’s Hudson Meadors describes Pickens’ NFL career so far as “a disappearing act.”

Despite great size (6-foot-4, 303 pounds) and intangibles (a 4.89 40-yard dash time), Pickens — who has been plagued by injuries — has yet to deliver a signature game performance or deliver steady production.

Thirty-nine tackles, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one pass deflection over 492 career snaps covering two seasons are not the kind of numbers that guarantee you a third NFL season. Pickens was an injury inactive for the Bears’ final two games last season.

“Due to injury, coaching or talent, Pickens has failed to make his mark,” Windy City Gridiron’s Bryan Orenchuk notes.

He can practice in only one gear: Game mode. Pickens, like other roster bubble players like wide receiver Tyler Scott, linebacker Noah Sewell, running back Travis Homer and guard/center Ryan Bates, must play hungry.

ESPN’s Courtney Cronin doesn’t project Pickens’ name to be on the Bears’ final 53-man roster.

The battle rounds begin tomorrow. Zacch Pickens’ future employment and residential address depend on him winning each one.

“I’m going to be more accountable, holding myself to a higher standard than I ever did in college,” Pickens told Bears.com.