The Bears have upgraded their running back room by signing D’Andre Swift to a three-year deal worth $24 million, according to several reports.
Swift will reportedly make $16.5 million over the first two years of his deal — earning him roughly $8.25 million in those two seasons.
Swift, 25, ran for 1,049 yards (which was a career high) on 229 attempts and scored five touchdowns while also adding 39 receptions, 214 yards and one touchdown as a receiver with the Eagles last season in 16 regular season games played. Previously, the former second-round running back out of Georgia was with the Detroit Lions for three seasons. While in Detroit, Swift ended with 364 attempts, 1,680 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns and caught 156 passes for 1,189 yards and seven scores.
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce shared some high praise about his former teammate with the Phildelphia Inquirer’s EJ Smith back in Decemeber.
“D’Andre is a really talented back,” Kelce said. “Not only from his explosion and his quickness and his talent, but he’s smart, he understands the game, he has great vision, outstanding elusiveness. And the other thing I think he brings a lot of value to, and I think this a big thing from the running back position, he’s not just a ‘sit in the backfield and run out of the dot’ running back.
He can do everything. He can be in ’gun, he can be out on the perimeter running a route against a linebacker. All of those things that he does bring tremendous value to an offense, especially an offense like ours where we can be spread out and do a lot of different things.”
The Bears finished the 2023 season as the No. 2 rushing team in the league with 2,399 yards, but Justin Fields led the team in rushing with 657 yards. Khalil Herbert, D’Onta Foreman and Roschon Johnson accounted for 1,388 total rushing yards and just 74 rushing first downs, which was 22nd in the NFL.
One of the main takeaways from gathering information during the NFL Scouting Combine was that the Bears were not satisfied with the production they got from the running back position.
Adding Swift gives the Bears a dual-threat player who has breakaway speed with his 4.48 40-yard dash. According to Pro Football Focus, he finished with 22 runs of 10 or more yards — which was tied for 17th in the NFL. Herbert ended with 13, Foreman had 12 and Johnson finished with eight runs of 10 or more yards.
One area that Swift doesn’t address is the pass blocking that needs to be better at the position. According to PFF, Swift has 137 pass blocking snaps in four seasons played and he has allowed 12 pressures and has been penalized three times. He also finished with a 47.9 pass blocking grade, which was ranked 86th among running backs and fullbacks.
In comparison, Johnson was rated at No. 46 in the league with his 64.8 grade, Herbert ranked 77th with his 53.3 ranking and Foreman ended with a 29.5 grade, putting him at 113.
Swift may not be the best pass blocker, but his ability to identify rushing lanes while also being a threat as pass catcher is what makes him an intriguing player.
While Shane Waldron was with the Seahawks the past three seasons, he called an offense that allowed rookie running back Kenneth Walker to rush for 1,050 yards, nine touchdowns on 228 attempts in 2022. Walker followed that season with 915 yards on 219 attempts and eight touchdowns last season. The Seahawks also drafted Zach Charbonnet in the second round and he finished with 108 carriers for 462 yards and a touchdown.
The Bears have three backs in Swift, Herbert and Johnson who are capable of producing on the ground, so it’ll be interesting to see how Waldron deploys each player.
The Bears desperately needed to add more weapons to the offense in 2024 and did so by adding another one in the backfield with Swift.
