Chicago Bears running back put on red alert as training camp nears

During his first season in Chicago, Swift earned a career-high 253 carries, turning them into 956 yards and six touchdowns. While the near 1,000 yards was nice, he averaged just 3.8 yards per carry. If Swift is going to remain the lead back, he must be more efficient with his touches.

Working in his favor is the team’s rebuild offensive line. With three new faces along the entire, there will be more holes for Swift to run through. Furthermore, Swift offers a pass-catching ability that could make him a versatile threat in Johnson’s offense.

Over his five-year career, Swift has made 237 receptions for 1,798 yards and eight touchdowns. He caught a career-high 62 passes in Johnson’s first year as Detroit’s passing game coordinator. It may not be Jahmyr Gibbs-type production, but Swift at least offers Johnson the type of player he likes at running back.

How Swift adopts to Johnson’s new scheme with the Bears will be extremely telling. Either the running back worry of the offseason was all a moot point, or Chicago will be searching for a new lead runner sooner rather than later.

Swift’s biggest competition 

Roschon Johnson matched Swift’s team-leading six rushing touchdowns in 2024. He has proven he is a proficient goal line back. However, Johnson earned just 55 carries and 150 total yards, showing that Chicago preferred to solely use him in short-yardage situation.

As a rookie, Johnson did average 4.3 yards per carry, running for 352 yards and two touchdowns on 81 carries. He has already received an endorsement from general manager Ryan Poles. And with Johnson, the head coach, wiping the slate clean, Johnson, the running back, will seemingly have a stronger opportunity to make an impact in 2025.

Monangai is a small running back that ran just a 4.6 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. There are plenty of reasons he fell to the seventh-round. But Johnson chose Monangai for a reason. He has a mountain to climb to make an impact as a rookie based on his draft capital, but training camp will give the running back a prime opportunity to impress.

During his five years at Rutgers, Monangai ran for 3,222 yards and 27 touchdowns. In 2023 he led the Big Ten in rushing yards with 1,262. He then broke that mark a year later, running for 1,279 yards and a career-high 13 touchdowns. Monangai was name First-team All-Big Ten in his final collegiate season.

Ben Johnson will certainly be watching the running back room throughout training camp. If the head coach doesn’t like what he sees, perhaps Swift could be facing even more competition for that RB1 role.