Running back is your biggest Bears’ offseason roster battle

Earlier this week, we had you guys vote for the biggest offseason roster battle on the 2023 Chicago Bears, and it wasn’t nearly as close as I figured it’d be. Over half of our voters went with running back over center and strongside linebacker. The 6% of our fans that went other were intrigued by cornerback and edge.

Last year’s number one tailback, David Montgomery, has moved on to the Lions, and the Bears have three players that seem capable of picking up the reps, but the player that ends up starting may not be the back to garner the most playing time this season.

Khalil Herbert only had 301 offensive snaps a year ago, but he averaged 5.7 yards per carry while racking up 731 rushing yards. He’s not as complete a football player as Montgomery was, but he’s undoubtedly working on his receiving and pass protection this offseason.

Free agent pickup D’Onta Foreman had a career year with the Panthers in 2022, with 203 attempts and 914 rushing yards, but most of that was done after getting a bigger role after they traded Christian McCaffrey. In the final 11 games, he rushed for 877 yards with five touchdowns. Foreman has never been asked to catch the ball out of the backfield much during his career, so we’ll need to see where he’s at in that aspect.

Rookie Roschon Johnson was known to do it all at Texas, and while I think he has tremendous upside, he’s still a first-year player that will need to establish himself on the team. If he can show an understanding of pass protection, he’ll get on the field.

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