Tight end Sam Roush, the 69th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, talks with ChicagoBears.com about who is on his tight end Mount Rushmore, how quickly he can solve a Rubik's Cube, what is on the top of his bucket list and more.

What are you most excited to see or do in Chicago?

I know it's an amazing city. There's some touristy spots like The Bean. I think there's some big gardens, so just exploring the city, and kind of getting to know the place where I'm going to live for the foreseeable future.

You've moved seven times in your life. What is your favorite place you've ever lived?

I love Nashville. Nashville's awesome. I only lived there for a year. My family's been there for five years — my whole time in college — but it was awesome. We moved there during COVID so I could have a senior season and I loved every second of it. We live about 15 minutes south of Nashville proper. Some of those high school buddies are some of my closest friends still.

And then you lived across the world in Malaysia and Indonesia for a little bit. What was the biggest learning you had from that experience?

It was interesting living in Asia, just kind of being the odd one out. Not something that I'd probably experience living in America. It was a cool experience, and you got to do a lot of interesting stuff and have unique experiences as a kid, so it was awesome.

What were some of those unique experiences you had there?

We had a cobra in our yard once. There were rats in everybody's roofs. That was just the way it was. I mean, I just spent my days barefoot, running around, catching lizards and doing fun stuff like that.

Describe your draft night in 3 words.

I kept it small. I'd say small, family and just excited. I'm so excited to be here. But we kept it small, really just my family. One of my friends was in town, so he came as well, and that was cool to have him there. But wanted to keep it small, just keep it about family. I love them. They've supported me so much through all this.

Who were your sports idols growing up?

I loved the Stanford tight ends as I got older and started getting more into football. That was something that I definitely started to really show interest in was the legacy of great tight ends at Stanford. Those are all guys that I want to be like and I'm on the path to hopefully becoming one of those guys, and I'm just really excited to be a part of that legacy.

Why Stanford?

I was living in San Jose at the time. It was a local team. I was playing tight end. I knew that was what I was going to do in college and Stanford has had amazing tight ends, especially the last 15 years. It was huge being around that.

Have you been able to form a connection with any of them?

Yeah. Elijah Higgins on the Cardinals, I played with him for a year, which was awesome. Zach Ertz came back twice during spring ball, more notably this year with Coach Wright because he played under him for a couple years. He was talking to us as a tight end room and came and sat in on film and was teaching us some stuff about the offense. That was really cool to hear from him. He's one of the greats.

Who is on your tight end Mount Rushmore?

So Zach Ertz is gonna be on there. Stanford guy. I'm gonna put Jim Dray on there. Bears tight end coach and Stanford legend. You gotta put (George) Kittle, you gotta put (Travis) Kelce on there. We'll go Antonio Gates for sure. Gronk is going to be on there. I'm going over four. Tony Gonzalez, gotta be on there. I'd put Mike Ditka on there. Bears legend, retired number. There's people that I'm leaving out. There's plenty of Stanford tight ends that I'm leaving out. Those eight are definitely in the running, for sure.

Your family is full of accomplished athletes. Who is considered the most accomplished or talented?

My grandpa and his brother, Phil and Merlin Olsen. They both played in the league for 9-plus years and Merlin's in the Hall of Fame. They're pretty spectacular.

Do you have a hidden talent?

I can solve the Rubik's Cube in like 40 seconds. There's definitely some people on social media that would clown me for that — they can do it a lot faster. I started learning guitar, too, but I'm just OK.

What can you play?

I can strum just about anything, but trying to learn some fingerpicking songs like Yellow Ledbetter. Really just a lot of Pearl Jam.

What is at the top of your bucket list?

Win a Super Bowl with the Bears.

Do you have a guilty pleasure like show or movie?

I love The Office — such a good show. Parks and Rec is good. I don't watch a ton of TV, but The Office is definitely on my Mount Rushmore of shows.

If football didn't exist, what would your dream job be?

Man, that's tough. I love football, and I'm very blessed to be here. If football didn't exist, I don't know. Maybe go play basketball. Basketball is a lot of fun. I think I could have been a good discus thrower or shot put. I always thought wrestling was so cool, so wrestling would have been fun.