Ben Johnson loves to run the football. His primary job as Chicago Bears head coach is helping Caleb Williams ascend at quarterback. However, the way he wants to go about doing that is to make the ground attack a legitimate threat, which is what happened during his three years with the Detroit Lions. The tandem of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs gashed defenses every week, opening up countless play-action opportunities for Jared Goff. It was unstoppable. One can imagine Johnson hopes to replicate that same situation in Chicago.
The problem is he doesn’t have the same setup. The Bears offensive line has multiple issues that need fixing. On top of that, they aren’t overly strong at running back, either. D’Andre Swift can be a great speed option, but he isn’t built for a workhorse-type role. Roschon Johnson doesn’t have enough explosiveness. They clearly need somebody who can handle a hefty workload. Adam Jahns and Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic got in touch with an NFL coach about this situation. While everybody mentions Boise State star Ashton Jeanty and the Bears, the coach sees three other names as Johnson types.
“The headliner might be (Ashton) Jeanty,” an opposing coach said, “but there’s a bunch of starters throughout the draft.” Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton and Ohio State’s Treyveon Henderson come to mind.
When posed with the idea of Jeanty being an option to the Bears at No. 10, the coach responded, “What’s the Bears’ offensive line going to look like?”
Ben Johnson unsurprisingly has a sharp eye if this is true.
Many feel Omario Hampton is the other running back in this class with a good chance to go in the 1st round. He had over 3,000 yards rushing and 30 touchdowns for North Carolina over the past two years. He coupled that with an outstanding performance at the scouting combine. Everybody believes he will be an immediate success wherever he goes. Henderson might be the Gibbs of this draft class. He has exceptional speed and burst as a runner, coupled with enough agility and strength to shake tacklers. His 7.1 yards per carry for Ohio State proved that.
Kaleb Johnson isn’t as premium of an athlete as the other two, but he makes up for it with excellent instincts, vision, and strength. He knows where the holes will be and has enough juice to exploit them. Any of those three would be tremendous additions to the Bears offense. There is a strong possibility Ben Johnson can get one of them in the 2nd round next month. If the team doesn’t go with Jeanty, have those names circled.
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