Bears' surprise standout among top fantasy football waiver targets in Week 8

The 2025 fantasy football season is at its midway point, and now that the early season trends are becoming crystallized as 2025 storylines, fantasy managers are searching for players who can tip the scales and lead them to a league championship.

And one of those guys is Chicago Bears rookie running back Kyle Monangai.

Monangai is coming off of the best game of his young career against the New Orleans Saints, when he ran for 81 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries.

Monangai is building momentum as a time-share running back with D'Andre Swift, and, as a result, was ranked as Pro Football Focus' top fantasy football waiver-wire priority entering Week 8.

"Head coach Ben Johnson had a two-man backfield in Detroit where both running backs were fantasy-relevant, and it’s starting to look like this Bears’ duo could emulate that," PFF's Nathan Jahnke wrote. "Monangai should be picked up off waiver wires in case Chicago’s rushing attack continues to be very successful."

Johnson rode former Bears running back David Montgomery and superstar rusher Jahmyr Gibbs to deep playoff runs during his time with the Lions, and while neither Swift nor Monangai is on that level yet, Johnson could conceivably get them there.

"The Bears face the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals over the next two weeks — the two teams that have allowed the most fantasy points to running backs heading into Week 8," Jahnke wrote. "Monangai could be a great short-term option at the position, as there are 10 teams on a bye over the next two weeks."

Monangai, a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, was lauded by most draft anaylsts as a steal after enjoying so much success at Rutgers.

Monangai ended his final year with the Scarlet Knights running for 1,279 yards and 13 TDs. He ran with the same kind of vision, burst, and between-the-tackles toughness that were on display against the Saints.