Trestan Ebner Gives Bears Return Options

If the Bears offense has to pull Velus Jones away from special teams, at least they have Trestan Ebner as an option now after some difficulty reaching him to tell him he's on the team.

It's a good thing the Bears drafted Trestan Ebner, their sixth-round running back out of Baylor.

And it's a good thing his sister has better cell phone service  or he might still be in the dark about what team he's playing for this year.

The Bears have solved a potential problem sharing third-round receiver Velus Jones between the offense and special teams with the selection of Ebner, the Baylor multipurpose back..

As an adept return man, Ebner could actually be helping keep the peace between coaches, so to speak, or at least provide options for all of them on game day.  

Jones' speed and experience in returns make him a threat to take it back all the way, so the Bears naturally would like to use him on returns. So they have added two players who could share these responsibilities, even while they had two who have returned punts or kicks already in Dazz Newsome and Khalil Herbert.

Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower can share the wealth, so to speak, with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy on game day and no one will be slighted. 

In this case, it's not likely they would hold back Jones on offense at the expense of special teams, so Hightower will at least get a look at the Tennessee rookie returning at times.

"Yeah, I mean, I think when it comes to game day you always talk about that stuff, like together," Hightower said. "You'll meet as a staff."

Hightower can breathe easier knowing he has one or the other.

"They're both different, you know?" Hightower said. "But they're both very competitive and they both have a chance to compete against each other. So it will be an exciting competition there and as there are other people already on this team that have returned that can compete as well.

"I mean I know we're talking about the rookies but it's in a wide competition for the other guys that we've had that are here too that have returned some kicks. Khalil can return kicks, (Byron) Pringle can return kicks. So it's a good problem to have and hopefully those guys help us with offense and defense as well. So it's all about team."

Ebnber was more of a threat as a kick returner than a punt returner, although he did both. He averaged 25.3 yards for 47 kick returns. He averaged 6.8 yards on punt returns for 28 tries, including 8.1 for 19 attempts as a senior. He had three kick return TDs to one punt return TD.

Jones had only two punt returns in college but had 122 kick returns for a 24.4-yard average with two TDs.

"I envision anybody that has a helmet on that's a returner doing both," Hightower said.

Ebner has no problem with shared duties.

"Yeah I love it, it's nice," he said. "We'll be able to push each other. I watched some of his tape too and he's really good. So I think it's fine, I've never been afraid of competition so it's good."

Ebner isn't discounting his own ability to contribute on offense even as a rookie. It's because of his receiving but also due to familiarity with the offense he is looking at in Chicago.

"I see a lot of outside zone and we've been going over that a lot," Ebner said. "So I feel very comfortable with running outside zone. It's the offense I ran this (last) year, already ran, so I'm excite to show that side of my game too."

At least Ebner is in Chicago and running that offense now at rookie minicamp. 

It seemed touch-and-go whether they initially would even locate him to let him know they drafted him. 

He might want to consider better phone service.

"I was out in the country, I'm from the country and so I was out in the country and we had a draft party and my phone, my agent was calling me, like, 'your phone's not working,' " Ebner recalled. "I'm like, 'I got your call this time,' but he was like, 'I called you three times.' "

Ebner's phone issues were not resolved and eventually the Bears reached him after drafting him by calling his older sister, Tiana Boone. So it's a good thing they got her number.

"Thank God, right?" Ebner said. "She told my agent, 'they might as well have picked me, at least my phone worked.' "

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