As Ben Johnson steps into his new role as Chicago Bears head coach, he is going to want playmakers all across his offense. And one area the Bears could immediately address is the running back room.
Chicago finished the 2024 campaign ranked 25th in rushing, averaging 102 yards per game. They have been heavily connected to Ashton Jeanty with their No. 10 overall pick and been aligned with nearly every running back in the 2025 NFL Draft if that selection doesn’t come to fruition. While the Bears have D’Andre Swift, it seems likely they enter training camp with at least one more rushing option.
But perhaps Johnson and company don’t look to the draft for their next rushing threat. Well, at least not with their own picks. Alex Kay of Bleacher Report suggests the Bears should trade Swift and their No. 72 overall pick to acquire Breece Hall from the New York Jets.
“The Bears still haven’t bolstered this struggling platoon, so they must either opt to utilize one of their seven picks in the upcoming draft on a prospect or flip one for a known entity like Hall,” Kay wrote. “The latter would be more appealing, as they have other areas of need to address in the early rounds.
“Getting a back of Hall’s caliber for a Day 2 pick while also dumping Swift—who could be far better utilized as a pass-catching depth option in New York—would be a perfect usage of that capital,” Kay concluded.
After tearing his ACL as a rookie, Hall has crafted a sizable role in the Jets’ offense. Through 40 games total, he has run for 2,333 yards and 14 touchdowns. Hall has added another 1,292 yards and eight touchdowns through the air.
There are clear positives to Hall’s game. For starters, his dual threat ability perfectly meshes with what Johnson wants to do on offense. In his final season with the Detroit Lions, running back Jamhyr Gibbs gained 1,412 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground while catching 52 passes for 517 yards and four touchdowns. While Hall and Gibbs are two completely different running backs, it’s easy to see how the former fits in the latter’s scheme.
At the same time, Hall has never rushed for more than 1,000 yards in a season. His most recent campaign saw him dip to 876 rushing yards and five touchdowns. With the chaos Aaron Rodgers brought to the offense, it’s fair to wonder how much Hall is actually at fault. Still, the Bears would be handing him the keys to their running back room. They want to ensure Hall has what it takes to handle it.
Still only 23-years-old, Johnson would surely find a way to work the running back into his offense. The only question is whether the Bears, and Jets, are willing to make a deal.
For starters, the Jets must agree to deal Hall. But if they do, the Bears have two crucial decisions to make. Does the franchise want to get rid of Swift, and are they willing to part with a third-round pick?
Swift’s debut in Chicago saw him run for 959 yards and six touchdowns. While he received a career-high 253 carries, the running back averaged just 3.8 yards per touch. Hall wasn’t much better at 4.2, but still, Johnson knows he needs his lead rusher to be much more efficient with the ball. Swift is certainly on the hot seat entering the 2025 campaign.
Still, he gives Johnson and the Bears some extra firepower in the pass game. Swift has caught 237 passes for 1,798 yards and eight touchdowns over his five-year career. He had 42 grabs for 386 yards in his Chicago debut. So, even if the Bears add another running back, it’s not like Swift is a zero in the offense. Johnson has experience working with him and the franchise may not be willing to part ties after just one season; especially based on what went down during the 2024 campaign.
While Hall’s has shown he has true NFL talent, and a third-round pick is a dart throw, the Bears could simply find their next running back there. They seem likely to add a runner early in the draft. Johnson has undoubtedly done his research on every name available in the 2025 class. Hall adds a lot of potential, but the player the Bears select would be Johnson’s guy from day one.
The NFL Draft is always unpredictable. If the Jets are serious about trading Hall, maybe it’s too good of an opportunity for the Bears to pass up. But general manager Ryan Poles knows how crucial the 2025 draft is. He will be cautious with every pick and every decision before him.
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Kirk Cousins might be relegated to the job of backup quarterback, but he is showing veteran leadership to his Atlanta Falcons teammates. Following Sunday's practice, Cousins pulled aside rookie defensive end James Pearce to encourage the first-round pick after his fourth practice in the league at Flowery Branch, Georgia. "QB Kirk Cousins pulled aside Pearce after practice to compliment him on a pass batted down," wrote Marc Raimondi of ESPN. Cousins reportedly had a solid day of practice on Sunday, going 7-of-12 passing against the first-team unit. If Cousins wants out of Atlanta, he's not showing it at practice. The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback is competing on the field and being a good teammate around the facility. Cousins' actions on the field backed up what Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot praised Cousins for before the team's practice on Sunday. “Outside, it's a lot more of a deal than it is in the building,” Fontenot said to the media about the idea of friction between the Falcons and Cousins, per video from D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “He shows up, he does his job, just like anybody ... We've gotta build the best 70-man roster so we can go win games. "That's what we're focused on, and Kirk, just like all the other players, is focused on coming in here and doing their job. That's what he's been doing." Fontenot didn't dismiss the idea that Atlanta would trade Cousins before the season. He said the Falcons will do whatever it takes to make the team better, but stressed that Cousins has been a professional throughout the process of being replaced by Michael Penix Jr., a first-round pick from the 2024 draft. “In terms of making moves, whether it's trades or acquiring players, we're always looking at those factors," Fontenot said. "We're gonna do whatever we can do to make this team the best it can possibly be. But he's been a great professional, and he's handled himself well.” Cousins is coming to work in a manner that will make another owner want to take a chance on the veteran quarterback. That could be one of his best-selling points before he plays in his 13th season in the league.
Throughout the season, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred visits all 30 team clubhouses in an attempt to strengthen his relationship with the players. But when Manfred visited the Philadelphia Phillies last week, he did anything but strengthen his relations, at least not with Phillies star Bryce Harper. As reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan, Harper wasn't a fan of a conversation that seemed to be heading toward the possibility of implementing a salary cap in the game. Harper stood nose to nose with Manfred, telling him, "If you want to speak about that, you can get the [expletive] out of our clubhouse." Passan's report says that Manfred reportedly responded that he was "not going to get the [expletive] out of here." Manfred's main source of argument comes from his view that it's an important issue to discuss and has a direct impact on the game of baseball. Nick Castellanos, who's been known to have a fiery side of personality himself, helped to mediate the situation by saying, "I have more questions" to Manfred. Because the meeting continued, things settled down, and eventually, Manfred and Harper shook hands. Though Harper did not answer phone calls from Manfred the next day. "It was pretty intense, definitely passionate. Both of 'em. The commissioner giving it back to Bryce and Bryce giving it back to the commissioner. That's Harp. He's been doing this since he was 15-years-old," Castellanos told ESPN. Both Harper and Manfred declined to comment to ESPN on the matter. Manfred is certainly in a difficult spot with players themselves against a salary cap, as well as the MLB Players Association, which is adamantly against it. But some team owners are for it, most notably Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein, who purchased the club in August 2024. It's certainly worth noting that the 1994 players' strike was a result of the league's effort to move to a salary-cap system. That is the worst-case scenario for MLB. And it seems to stress out Manfred. "Rob seems to be in a pretty desperate place on how important it is to get this salary cap," Castellanos added in his comments to ESPN, "because he's floating the word lockout two years in advance of our collective bargaining agreement [expiration]. That's nothing to throw around. That's the same thing as me in a marriage saying, 'I think divorce is a possibility. It's probably going to happen.' You don't just say those things." It's also important to note that Harper is a client of baseball super agent Scott Boras, and Castellanos is a former Boras client who now represents himself. Boras is known for bargaining for a ton of money for his clients, so that may provide one explanation of many for why Harper would be so against the discussion. It seems the only thing all parties can agree on is that no one wants a work stoppage in Major League Baseball. But that might just be where the agreements end.
The Boston Red Sox, who haven't made the playoffs since 2021, recently got a taste of how the last four years could have gone. During Boston's nine-game stretch after the All-Star break against top National League contenders, one slugger stood out above the rest. Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber pumped long home runs against Red Sox pitching on back-to-back nights, helping take two of three from his former team. Schwarber was phenomenal for the Red Sox for the two months he was there, posting a .957 OPS in 41 games and hitting some memorable playoff home runs as well. But there was no significant push from Boston's end to bring him back in free agency, so he signed a four-year, $79 million contract with the Phillies. That's been great for the Phillies and Schwarber, but the Red Sox have gotten far less production out of their designated hitter slot in that time span. And now that Schwarber is headed back to the open market, one Red Sox insider thinks Boston has an opportunity to right what once went wrong. On Sunday, Sean McAdam of MassLive encouraged the Red Sox to make more of an effort to bring Schwarber back to Boston in free agency the second time around. "We’re getting ahead of ourselves, of course, but there would be worse moves the Red Sox could make this winter than to sign free agent DH Kyle Schwarber," wrote McAdam. "To be sure, it would be an expensive investment, especially when you consider that they would have to eat most if not all of Masataka Yoshida’s remaining salary to make it work roster-wise." Yoshida is owed over $37 million over the next two seasons, but he and Schwarber are virtually the same age, and there's no question who the Red Sox would rather have DHing. Schwarber's 36 home runs this year are more than Yoshida has had in his entire big-league career, and as a matter of fact, only New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge has hit more home runs than the Phillies' slugger in the last four seasons. Manager Alex Cora also dropped a hint last week about the potential for a Schwarber reunion. If there's any way for Boston to make it happen financially, they should.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have plenty of suitors for third baseman Eugenio Suarez. A new team has reportedly entered the market for his services. Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Phillies have reached out regarding Suarez. While Lauber did not provide any indication as to whether or not those talks have gained traction, the Phillies are an intriguing suitor for the Diamondbacks' third baseman. The Phillies' interest may be a recent development. Jon Heyman of the New York Post speculated on Friday that the Phillies could emerge as a suitor in the wake of third baseman Alec Bohm landing on the injured list with a fractured left rib. Suarez is in the midst of what is arguably his best season thus far. He has produced a .249/.321/.587 batting line in 421 plate appearances entering Saturday with 36 homers and a major league-leading 87 RBI. Suarez would be more than just another powerful bat in the lineup. Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and first baseman Bryce Harper are both left-handed hitters — adding Suarez would provide more balance in the batting order. He would also provide a counter against opposing managers bringing in a lefty reliever to face Schwarber and Harper. The biggest question would be how the Phillies would handle an eventual logjam on the roster. Bohm is expected to return from the IL in mid-August and would not have a clear path to regular at-bats if Suarez were acquired. Schwarber could theoretically return to left field to open up playing time at the DH spot, but his outfield defense is mediocre at best. However, as the Phillies are also looking to upgrade the outfield, where Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh have been disappointments, adding Suarez could solve several problems in one fell swoop.