There was a question the other day as to why everyone was down on D'Andre Swift in Chicago. There has been some production, after all, and the Bears don't have much else at the position. Maybe we're all underestimating him.
Some of it is that NFL teams, who know him best, don't seem to think much of him. In the last three years, the Lions gave him away, the Eagles also cut the cord quickly, and now the Bears are being linked to free agents like Nick Chubb.
I think we can fairly say that the Eagles are understandable. Why keep Swift when you can sign Saquon? But that doesn't explain why the Lions dumped him and the Bears don't seem to love him. And of course there's also the problem that the Bears new coach, Ben Johnson, was with Detroit when they got rid of Swift in the first place. Presumably he doesn't like him much more now than he did then?
In any case, Swift has been a regular starter for three different teams the last three years. And one negative I can see is he really hasn't put up great numbers in the area that he should -- running the ball.
Table shows the running backs to start or play leading roles at least half the time over the last three years, sorted by rushing yards per game. There are 33 of them. Swift shows up 24th in rushing yards, and the guys behind him, nobody wants them as their starter either. Most will be backups or in committees this year (or are currently unemployed) or their teams just drafted a running back early.
| RUNNING BACKS PER GAME, 2022-2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Run | No | Rec | Total | TD |
| Saquon Barkley | 46 | 93.0 | 2.8 | 19.5 | 106.5 | .80 |
| Derrick Henry | 50 | 92.5 | 1.6 | 16.1 | 104.8 | .86 |
| Jonathan Taylor | 33 | 90.8 | 1.8 | 11.2 | 97.9 | .73 |
| Kyren Williams | 27 | 88.6 | 2.4 | 14.3 | 96.1 | 1.09 |
| Josh Jacobs | 47 | 80.6 | 2.7 | 22.1 | 95.4 | .72 |
| Christian McCaffrey | 36 | 76.7 | 4.6 | 39.6 | 112.3 | .94 |
| Bijan Robinson | 33 | 73.6 | 3.6 | 27.8 | 88.4 | .71 |
| James Conner | 42 | 69.4 | 2.9 | 20.9 | 80.5 | .63 |
| Chuba Hubbard | 36 | 66.0 | 2.3 | 14.4 | 75.6 | .51 |
| Isiah Pacheco | 27 | 64.9 | 2.3 | 15.5 | 78.4 | .52 |
| Aaron Jones | 45 | 64.8 | 3.1 | 23.0 | 87.8 | .39 |
| Kenneth Walker | 37 | 64.4 | 2.6 | 19.2 | 75.5 | .68 |
| Joe Mixon | 45 | 63.6 | 3.3 | 25.0 | 81.8 | .74 |
| Tony Pollard | 49 | 63.1 | 2.8 | 18.8 | 77.0 | .48 |
| James Cook | 38 | 62.6 | 2.3 | 20.3 | 76.2 | .68 |
| Raheem Mostert | 31 | 61.4 | 1.8 | 12.2 | 73.5 | .84 |
| Najee Harris | 51 | 61.0 | 2.1 | 13.4 | 68.8 | .47 |
| Alvin Kamara | 42 | 60.5 | 4.8 | 35.7 | 83.3 | .45 |
| David Montgomery | 44 | 58.9 | 2.0 | 17.6 | 68.7 | .71 |
| Devin Singletary | 30 | 58.5 | 2.4 | 16.8 | 72.9 | .40 |
| Breece Hall | 40 | 58.3 | 3.8 | 32.3 | 78.6 | .58 |
| Brian Robinson | 40 | 57.7 | 1.6 | 14.7 | 68.4 | .51 |
| Travis Etienne | 44 | 56.3 | 2.8 | 21.0 | 71.5 | .45 |
| D'Andre Swift | 46 | 55.4 | 2.8 | 21.5 | 68.5 | .45 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | 43 | 55.1 | 3.2 | 19.2 | 70.5 | .41 |
| Austin Ekeler | 34 | 48.5 | 4.9 | 36.9 | 82.6 | .79 |
| Gus Edwards | 29 | 47.8 | 1.1 | 6.4 | 54.0 | .67 |
| Javonte Williams | 34 | 43.0 | 3.2 | 17.5 | 51.9 | .28 |
| Jaylen Warren (C) | 32 | 40.5 | 3.1 | 21.3 | 52.0 | .16 |
| Jaleel McLaughlin (C) | 31 | 29.1 | 1.7 | 7.8 | 34.5 | .16 |
| Tyjae Spears (C) | 28 | 23.9 | 2.8 | 21.5 | 37.7 | .29 |
| Antonio Gibson (C) | 28 | 23.1 | 2.0 | 18.8 | 36.2 | .11 |
| Justice Hill (C) | 31 | 19.8 | 2.3 | 19.0 | 26.5 | .26 |
So I don't know. Swift has performed well at times; first half of the year with the Eagles, certainly. He's just 26, and presumably has a couple of good seasons left.
But not a lot to get excited about. The Bears seem likely to bring in someone else, or maybe a late-round rookie (sixth-rounder Kyle Monangai) emerges. Just seems like wherever Swift is, he's only there until the team is able to uncover a better option. Sorry man.
--Andy Richardson