The Chicago Bears have done a remarkable job answering most of their roster questions during the 2025 NFL offseason. General manager Ryan Poles utilized trades, free agency, and the NFL Draft to land upgrades at several positions, including the interior offensive line, the defensive line, and a batch of new skill players.
But one position remains mostly untouched: running back.
Sure, the Bears added Rutgers star Kyle Monangai in the seventh round, and I do believe he will be a factor in the running back pecking order by the time the season rolls around. But speculation has run wild about Chicago targeting an unsigned veteran like Nick Chubb or J.K. Dobbins to round out their running back room and challenge incumbent starter D'Andre Swift for first-team reps.
Indeed, adding a player like Chubb or Dobbins wouldn't hurt, but it may not be necessary, either.
The Chicago Bears might already have a veteran running back on the roster who's primed to challenge Swift in training camp to be the team's lead back: Roschon Johnson.
Johnson was selected by the Bears in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft and was largely viewed as one of that draft year's biggest steals. The former Texas Longhorn entered the league as a relatively inexperienced running back who profiled as a powerful between-the-tackles runner and a quality pass protector on third downs.
Johnson's rookie season was promising yet unspectacular. He finished his first year with 81 carries for 352 yards and three touchdowns (4.3 yards per carry) in a season that saw him reach 10 carries in a game only one time.
In 2024, Johnson was used even less. He totaled just 55 carries for 150 yards and six touchdowns. He was limited to 14 games because of concussions -- an issue that's become an issue for him over his first two seasons -- and never was able to find his groove as a complement to Swift.
The good news for Johnson is that Swift, in his role as the unquestioned RB1, wasn't special. He didn't have the kind of debut season for the Bears that cemented his role as the feature back in 2025. He ran for 959 yards and a career-low 3.8 yards per carry. Maybe Swift was a victim of the Chicago Bears' horrendous offensive line. Maybe he's just an average player. But his failure to live up to his free-agent contract has left the door open for competition this summer.
"Roschon, really looking forward to him playing a physical brand of football that we know he has," Poles said recently. "I think kind of that role was a little bit out of whack last year. I think he's going to have more of a physical role for us."
The Bears are already setting the stage for Johnson to perhaps serve the same role that David Montgomery did for Ben Johnson and the Detroit Lions. Montgomery has been Detroit's tone-setter; the heartbeat of the running game, while Jahmyr Gibbs has served as the explosive nuclear weapon.
It would be unfair to suggest Johnson and Swift can do exactly for the Bears what Montgomery and Gibbs have done for the Lions, but the vision is there. And it includes a big slice of Roschon Johnson, who might just emerge in Year 3 as Chicago's bell-cow back.
