The Chicago Bears made several noteworthy moves to upgrade their offense this off-season. Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton arrived to bolster the center spot. Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze came in at wide receiver. Gerald Everett becomes a solid #2 behind Cole Kmet at tight end. Of course, Caleb Williams becomes their new triggerman at quarterback. Through all of the madness, people seem to have forgotten the biggest of their free agent signings: running back D’Andre Swift.
It was a minor surprise considering how little the Bears have spent at running back in both money and draft picks under GM Ryan Poles. That was a clear indication of how much the organization liked him. Several experts feel the team overplayed. Swift isn’t anywhere close to the quality of back others like Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs are. One person disagrees. Clay Harbor is a former tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles. He watched several of their games last year. He believes Swift is a far better player than he gets credit for, and explained why on the Chicago Bears podcast.
D’Andre Swift offers the Bears a versatile skill set.
While he may not be Walter Payton, he is capable of staying on the field every down. He’s averaged 4.6 yards per carry for his career, caught 195 passes in four seasons, and allowed only five pressures in 47 pass-blocking snaps last season. Maybe what has led to this idea that he’s not a complete back is that he wasn’t used in a primary role until last season. Detroit used him as a part-time rotational back for three years alongside Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Williams. Last year was his first chance to be the primary guy and he tops 1,000 yards on only 229 carries.
Here’s the thing. If he’d gotten the same number of carries each year he was in Detroit, he’d have finished over 1,000 yards in two of those three seasons. Sometimes, all a guy needs is an opportunity. D’Andre Swift finally got his last year and took full advantage. He shouldn’t be punished for it. There is no reason to think he will regress in 2024. He’s only 25 years old and will play behind an offensive line filled with solid run blockers like Darnell Wright, Teven Jenkins, and Braxton Jones.
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The best part is that defenses won’t be able to focus on stopping him—not with D.J. Moore, Allen, Odunze, and Kmet causing problems in the passing game.
I don’t know how healthy Foreman was, Byron. If he was close to 100%, he was underutilized, IMHO. He was a stud with Carolina.
As far as DL, just line up the best 4. Pickens made a play in a few of the limited games I was able to watch. I’m hoping he takes a leap with Dexter.
I really don’t see any position on the Bears roster, on and off the Field that hasn’t been upgraded over last year with the exception of the D line. but maybe Dexter and Pickens can fill in that hole. Foreman last year filled in great when Hebert went down for a few games. He was a pounder.
Part of the reason he wasn’t used more at Detriot was due to health. He broke out last year mostly in part because he was able to stay healthy for a whole year. Hopefully, the trend of good health continues.
Swift signed basically the exact same contract we signed Forte to 12 years ago, except 1 less year. Don’t get caught up in the white noise. He will be the cog to our offense. We need Kmet/Everett to be dynamic at the top of the triangle. Our offense is going to eat defenses up if we can maintain health.
Nobody forgot anything. Ur not the smartest guy in the room.