ESPN seriously overlooks the ball-hawking ability of Bears CB Zah Frazier when predicting the stat leaders for the 2025 rookie class

"I think he has really good instincts and he's got really good ball skills, so there is a couple plays on there where he turns and he can find it, track it down field, which is a really difficult thing for a lot of defensive backs to do," Bears director of player personnel Trey Koziol said after Frazier was selected. "That to me is what jumped out on tape. Is if the ball is up in the air, it's one thing to have that frame and that length, it's another thing to be able to go up and play it like a wide receiver, which was really fun to watch."

Simply put, that level of ball-hawking ability mixed with his professional mindset put Frazier on the team's radar and eventually led to selecting him in the fifth-round.

Those skills were already on display during Chicago's rookie minicamp when Frazier broke up a 50/50 ball in coverage against second-year wide receiver John Jackson, a play that received some praise after practice from defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

"Once you don't panic, good things happen," Frazier said about the play. "That was a good thing having a little PBU, I want the ball though."

Being hungry to attack the ball is a great trait to have when potentially lining up opposite Jaylon Johnson on the outside. Opposing quarterbacks are going to target Frazier often when he's on the field, and he's on a fast track to earn some playing time.

Yet, when predicting the 2025 stats for the incoming rookie class, ESPN seriously overlooked Frazier's ability to steal the football and the amount of targets he'll face.

ESPN predicted 12 rookies will come away with at least one interception, and Frazier was not listed among that group. Only Malaki Starks and Jahdae Baron, two first-round defensive backs, were projected to record multiple INTs.

For more context on what Frazier is walking into in Chicago, in 2022 during Tyrique Stevenson's rookie season starting outside opposite Johnson, Stevenson recorded four interceptions, which was tied for a team-high. 

It's a safe bet to make that Frazier will get one, and honestly multiple, saying he gets some serious playing time rotating with Stevenson and Terell Smith on the outside.