It’s a new regime in Chicago. Ben Johnson is here, and the Chicago Bears are going to start thinking differently about how to approach roster building.
What we know currently is that how the Bears have approached roster building the last three years largely hasn’t worked. This isn’t to turn things into a bash Ryan Poles article, but when you’ve averaged 5 wins a season for three years, things aren’t going like you would have hoped.
How much of that was poor coaching? We will certainly find out this year, but let’s put that aside and look at what Ben Johnson wants on his team, specifically on offense.
We know he wants everyone to block. Receivers? “No block, no rock.” Offensive line? He’s already found three new starters. Even the reserve players he’s signed at RB, TE, and WR all have good blocking skills.
We also know that Johnson wants to use those blockers and create an elite running game. Do we think he can do that with D’Andre Swift as his running back? Do we think he even wants Swift as his running back?
When Johnson took over as the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator, he immediately reduced the role of Swift on the team and made Jamaal Williams his feature running back. Williams rushed for over 1000 yards and had 17 rushing touchdowns that season. In Williams’ other seasons without Johnson he was roughly a 500-yard-per-season back.
It would be hard to imagine Roschon Johnson making the leap to having that strong of a season for Johnson, but we know Johnson likes having a thunder and lightning pairing in the backfield, think David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs.
Perhaps Swift can be the lightning this season, but he certainly can’t be the thunder. The Bears need a back who can carry the load for the Bears in the backfield and make this running game work.
It would be hard-pressed to imagine Johnson sees Swift as a long-term piece in his backfield, so he’s going to want multiple investments at running back. It wouldn’t even shock me if the Bears selected two running backs in this draft, one in the first or second round and another one on day three.
Yes, the running back class is deep this year, but with so many great backs, what if there’s a run on backs before 39? We know Ashton Jeanty and Omarion Hampton are going to go in round one. Now there’s some buzz that TreVeyon Henderson could as well. If three backs go off the board in round one, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising if guys like Kaleb Johnson and Quinshon Judkins go with the first 5 or 6 picks in round two, and suddenly the Bears are looking at potentially RB6 in the draft class.
You don’t want to take that chance.
If Jeanty is there. Run the card in. What if Jeanty and Will Campbell are there? Run the card in with Jeanty.
But let’s be honest, the odds that Jeanty makes it to 10 are pretty low. With a lack of blue-chip prospects in this draft, someone is going to take the blue-chipper in Jeanty because of a lack of options, even if the running back value for a top ten pick isn’t great.
But that doesn’t mean the Bears should give up on the running back dream, because Hampton will almost certainly be there. Hampton is a guy who can do it all and immediately start as a rookie. He projects to become an excellent running back in this league, and there’s no reason to worry too much about positional value with the tenth pick when the draft class is just so weak.
Fans can sit there and scream, “Offensive line! Offensive line! Offensive line!” But is that what you want to do if Will Campbell and Armand Membou are off the board? Do you want to just run the card in for Kelvin Banks or Josh Simmons, just because of the position they play? Those guys aren’t sure-fire-type players, and that’s what you want when you are picking in the top ten.
If Jeanty is there, of course you do it, if Hampton is there, you should do it.
Don’t overthink it, signing guys like Joe Thuney and Grady Jarrett show the Bears are interested in winning this year. To do that, they need a feature running back and Swift ain’t it. Take the running back and don’t look back
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