Bears rookie Theo Benedet brings athleticism from Vancouver to the NFL

Ahead of the most important job interview of his life, Theo Benedet got sick. And sprained his ankle.

Sixteen NFL teams were in attendance at the University of British Columbia’s pro day on March 29. Benedet had lost eight pounds and weighed in at 295. He had a bum ankle.

“He was at 85 percent,” said Blake Nill, head coach at UBC.

Benedet’s vertical jump was 34.5 inches, which would have tied for fifth among offensive linemen at the NFL combine. His “relative athletic score” ranked in the 90th percentile. While his weight may have scared a few teams off, the Chicago Bears, represented in Vancouver that day by scout Reese Hicks, remained interested.

Offensive line coach Chris Morgan called Benedet two weeks before the draft to express his excitement about possibly getting the Canadian offensive lineman to Halas Hall.

“Do you like to train?” Morgan asked him.

“Training, for me, is everything,” Benedet said. “I was 230 pounds when I got to college. I understand that’s how you get better. When practice is over, staying late. Putting in the hours when people aren’t watching.

“That’s what really fired me up and sold me on Chicago.”

Ten teams made offers to Benedet after the draft. The other top candidates were the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, but he chose Chicago.

“I felt like there was an O-line coach here who really believed in me who I started to develop a relationship with and I think really understood my strengths and my weaknesses as well,” he said. “I thought that’d bode well for the future.”

Benedet didn’t start playing football until 10th grade. He could have gone to the CFL and been a star. But he wants to compete with the best and is attempting the climb to an NFL roster.

“Once people said to him, ‘You know, you’ve really got something special. You could play at a really high level,’ there was no stopping him,” said Theo’s mother, Janine Benedet. “He wants the opportunity to prove what he can do.”

Theo Benedet said playing against competition from major American programs in the 2023 East-West Shrine Bowl boosted his confidence. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)

When Janine drove Theo to his first soccer practice, he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car before she put it in park.

His response to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up” was always, “An athlete.”

“That’s always been his passion,” she said.

Janine is a law professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. Theo’s dad, Trevor, is a prosecutor who still competes in a sport — fencing. In college, Trevor did rowing, archery and cycling as well.

“All of the nerd sports,” Janine said. “Theo was our team-sports person.”

For Theo, it was soccer, basketball and shot put. He was an outstanding goalie — his high school team went to the provincial championship and he could’ve played collegiately.

When Nill went to Handsworth Secondary School to attend a signing day, he noticed a tall, lanky kid in the gymnasium. Benedet had started to gain interest in football, though, switching high schools so he could play — the team at his original school folded.

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Nill met with Janine on campus to talk about “maybe making football more of a priority in Theo’s life.”

“She said, ‘Coach, I spent my whole life trying to keep him out of football and now you’re telling me you want him in football?’” Nill said. “She was very conflicted about it.”

“He maybe overstates my degree of reluctance,” Janine said with a laugh. “But he wanted to meet with me when they were keen on recruiting Theo. I was fine with it. I was thrilled to have Theo stay at home.”

Coincidentally, that week, Janine had read a New York Times story about offensive linemen and the health concerns they deal with after football.

“I did express some concern and some hesitation about what was going to happen to my kid, but I have to say on the whole, it’s been — leaving aside where it’s all ended up — it was an enormously positive experience for him at university to play football,” she said. “He loves it. Coach Nill was an amazing coach. The support system was great. It gave him a peer group and a focus in what’s a very large university. I just said to Theo, you finish your degree and it’s fine with me, which he did.”

Theo Benedet played offense, defense and even kicked field goals in high school. (Blair Shier / blair.photo)

In high school, Benedet played offense, defense and even kicked field goals when needed. It was a small high school, and he just wanted to play.

When someone his size got to UBC, the thought was he would play tight end, but Nill wanted him to play offensive line. Benedet had to put on weight — a lot of weight.

Then COVID-19 struck, and getting his body ready for football “was his project,” Janine said.

“He would be out in our yard doing a lot of exercises in the dark and in the rain — it rains a lot here,” she said. “And at the same time, trying to transform himself physically in a healthy way.”

Nill credited Benedet’s upbringing for allowing him to “understand the science of sport” to get ready to play offensive line. UBC’s strength coach had spent time at Utah under Urban Meyer, so they had the resources in the weight room.

“Theo’s dedication to the process was what it took,” Nill said. “He accepted coaching, accepted guidance in every way. The end product is a result of his dedication.”

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When his college career began, Benedet sat the first two games. Janine remembers that as the only time he was ever frustrated.

“Never ever since Theo was 5 years old have I ever heard him say, ‘I don’t want to practice,’ or, ‘Ugh, we have to go, it’s raining,’” she said. “We play soccer through the winter here. It does not matter. He’s always the one by the door saying, ‘C’mon, Mom, we’ve got to go.’

“That’s been his attitude toward football in university as well. ‘We can do this, we’ve gotta go.’ … As long as you put him on the field, he’s happy.”

A couple of years ago, UBC installed a screen play they had watched a U.S. college team use a few weeks earlier. It required Benedet to not only get out in space on the wider Canadian field, but he had to block a cornerback — in Canada, a halfback.

“Most O-linemen can’t do that,” Nill said, “but with Theo, he was able to go out, in the size of a Canadian field, track down a halfback and we scored on this play against our top rival. When you saw him blocking in that type of situation with the space, you just knew he was at a level higher than what is the norm here in Canada for sure.”

Nill could tell that Benedet was different, and an NFL career was not a long shot.

“He’s such a good athlete,” Nill said. “I’ve coached so long. I’ve had players in the NFL before, and dozens and dozens in the CFL. You could just tell. It isn’t just his athleticism. The guy’s flat-out mean. He carries a bit of an edge. He likes dominating in sport. He was almost too good for us in Canada.”

When asked about that mean streak, Janine said it’s not surprising. She’s seen it in the living room.

“He’s like that at home when we play board games. He’s vicious and he hates to lose,” she said. “He brings that same level of intensity to anything competitive.

“Yet at the same time, he’s an incredibly gentle, thoughtful guy who was really interested in history and sports history, and is a terrific older brother to his little sister. It really is two sides, but when it comes to things where there’s a competitive element, he is naturally very intense. He wants to do his best.”

Benedet went from a 230-pounder with only a few years of football experience to becoming the first offensive lineman to win the JP Metras Trophy twice. The award is given to the best lineman in U Sports — the national sport governing body for universities in Canada.

Only one defensive lineman has won it twice, Mathieu Betts, who spent the 2019 training camp with the Bears and recently signed with the Detroit Lions after an 18-sack season in the CFL.

“Theo’s the offensive line version of Mathieu Betts,” Nill said.

Theo Benedet and his sister, Lucie. (Courtesy of Janine Benedet)

Benedet had some opportunities to play college football in the States, but chose to stay in British Columbia — close to home, where he could finish his degree, and he had high hopes for his team last season.

In 2023, he played in the East-West Shrine Bowl, which gave him a better sense of his NFL chances. He deferred his draft year to 2024 and then played in the College Gridiron Showcase in front of NFL scouts in January.

The biggest difference for linemen making the switch from Canadian to American football is the distance at the line of scrimmage. There’s a 1-yard gap between the offense and defense.

Benedet’s experience as a soccer goalie has helped him adjust to that. He loved when it was time for penalty kicks.

“He has a very good reaction time,” Janine said. “He’s quick off the mark and that’s part of being a good soccer goalie.”

After his first practice as a Bear, Benedet mentioned how soccer helped him with his footwork.

“It’s super important in soccer to be light on your feet to be able to change direction quickly, react, and that translates a lot, especially the outside zone scheme we run here,” he said. “It’s a lot of the same foot patterns.”

What he wasn’t necessarily ready for at the Shrine Game was the linebacker play. In Canada, linebackers are smaller and stay five yards back.

“They came downhill right away at the Shrine,” he said. “That took me a minute to get adjusted to. As we got into one-on-ones, I’m going against guys from Ohio State and stuff and I’m beating them. That’s when your confidence starts to grow that you’re made for this level.”

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Days after Benedet signed his contract with the Bears, he was the 15th pick in the CFL draft — and he certainly would’ve been selected higher if not for the mutual interest between Bendedet and the Bears.

He had a choice — go to the CFL and likely step in as a Day 1 starter, continuing the dominance he displayed in college, or work his way onto an NFL roster from being an undrafted rookie.

“I’m not afraid to compete,” he said. “I understand it’s not going to be given to me down here. I’m gonna have to beat guys out, but I’m ready to do that. I can maximize myself as a player here, as opposed to Canada, where there’s certainly a high level of competition, but I want to be with the best.”

At rookie minicamp, Benedet worked at right guard and believes his long-term position will be at guard, but he plans to work on being available at all five positions.

“I understand my path to the 53 will probably be as a backup, sixth, seventh guy,” he said. “So if I can fill in at all five positions, that helps me get on the roster.”

Morgan always harps on the importance of being versatile. It’s a priority for Bears general manager Ryan Poles, too.

“He’s a flexible guy. He’s got a lot of positional flex,” Morgan said. “There’s a lot of value in a guy like that that’s athletic enough to play outside and strong enough to play inside and smart enough to handle the workload.”

Benedet had conversations with his family about playing professionally in Canada or giving the NFL a shot. They’re glad that it turned out to be the Bears, a direct flight away from Vancouver.

“It’s consistent with his personality of wanting to test himself at the very highest level,” Janine said.

Janine joked that she and her husband are “not typical football parents,” but she did graduate work at the University of Michigan and brought Theo to a game at the Big House.

“We’re learning,” she said, “and very excited to hopefully see him in a Bears uniform on the field before too long.”

Nill noticed that the Bears showed extra interest. They believed they had found someone that other teams missed.

“It’s like when you go recruiting and you go to a small town where you think no one is and you see some kid, you go, wow, this kid might turn into something,” he said. “Others knew about Theo, but I think there was a genuine plan for him and a genuine interest in him right from the start because of the attention that they gave Theo.”

Under Poles and assistant GM Ian Cunningham, the Bears have had a type for their offensive linemen, and Benedet fit — even though it’s not the prototypical college experience.

“He’s athletic, he’s tough, he’s a competitor,” Morgan said. “So we’re excited to add him to the mix and compete.”

The Bears’ offensive line might already have its top eight, but there’s always competition for the final spots, and Benedet could begin his NFL career on the practice squad, too. It might not be what he — or his family — envisioned years ago, but Benedet is ready to test his athleticism and competitiveness against the best.

Being part of a talented rookie class doesn’t hurt, either.

“Just a really exciting young project with Caleb Williams, Rome (Odunze), all those guys,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”

(Photos: Michael Reaves / Getty Images; courtesy of Janine Benedet)