The Chicago Bears are in the business of running the football, and doing so explosively, under head coach Ben Johnson, and the addition of a former Minnesota Vikings running back can help in that endeavor while also weakening the offense of an NFC North Division rival.
Darren Wolfson of KSTP reported on Monday, August 31 that the Bears are likely to secure the services of Zavier Scott, who the Vikings cut on Sunday.
“#Vikings wanted RB Zavier Scott back and on their practice squad,” Wolfson posted to X. “But hear he’s expected to land with the #Bears.”
Scott, an undrafted rookie in 2023 out of Maine, spent time with the Indianapolis Colts before landing in Minnesota.
Now 27 years old, Scott appeared in 16 games for the Vikings in 2025, which was the first regular-season action he has seen in his NFL career. The RB carried the football 32 times for 114 yards (3.6 yards per attempt) and caught 14 passes for 98 yards and one TD on 16 targets.
Scott lined up on 105 offensive snaps and also played 149 snaps on special teams.
Zavier Scott Could Challenge Roschon Johnson for RB3 Spot in Bears’ Offense
Chicago has a bonafide one-two punch in the backfield already in the form of starter D’Andre Swift and second-year player Kyle Monangai, a seventh-round pick in 2025 who was among the better finds league-wide on Day 3 of that draft.
However, Monangai recently hyperextended his knee. There is a strong chance that he will be ready to go Week 1, but even if that is the case, Roschon Johnson’s job as the team’s RB3 could potentially be up for grabs.
Johnson, a fourth-round pick out of Texas in 2023, is entering the final year of his rookie deal and has a history of concussions. His workload in the run game has declined in each of his professional seasons, dropping all the way to just two carries and zero targets in the pass game during Ben Johnson’s first year as head coach.
So while Roschon Johnson clearly doesn’t fit the mold of the run game in Chicago, at least not as the staff has currently constructed it, Scott could be a stronger match for the team’s rush attack.
Vikings Kept RB Demond Claiborne, WR Dillon Bell Over Zavier Scott
Scott is an unfortunate casualty of the cutdown process in Minnesota, where the team made decisions to keep two different players that likely ended with Scott missing out on the initial 53-man roster.
First, the Vikings held onto sixth-round rookie running back Demond Claiborne. They did so even despite his struggles in the pass game during training camp due to Claiborne’s athletic explosiveness.
Multiple team insiders, including Kevin Seifert of ESPN and Alec Lewis of The Athletic, predicted that Scott and Claiborne would both make the team, guessing that undrafted rookie wide receiver Dillon Bell would end up the odd man out.
However, the Vikings chose to hold onto Bell after a strong training camp and preseason, as he also possesses an explosive skill set and could prove valuable picking up yards after the catch in space and as a weapon on gadget plays.
Bears Expected to Steal Coveted RB From Vikings After Roster Cuts