Bear Digest

Bears Trade Khalil Herbert to Bengals for Seventh-Round Pick

Former Chicago starting running back is headed to Cincinnati, leaving Travis Homer as third running back behind D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson.

Gene Chamberlain

Khalil Herbert carries in preseason against his new team, the Cincinnati Bengals.
Khalil Herbert carries in preseason against his new team, the Cincinnati Bengals. / Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
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Shane Waldron must really have confidence in Travis Homer.

Or perhaps they simply plan on giving more carries to Doug Kramer.

The Bears are trading third running back Khalil Herbert to the Cincinnati Bengals. In return, the Bears received a seventh-round draft pick.

Herbert's contract expires after this season. A former starter and 2021 sixth-round pick by former Bears GM Ryan Pace, Herbert has carried only eight times for 16 yards this year and has two catches for 4 yards.

As a running back, Herbert seemed ideally suited to returning kicks this year because of the rules change on returns and his own past experience returning kicks. However, he had only one return for 28 yards this season.

Herbert started nine games last season and started 12 for his career. He played in 48 for the Bears in four seasons, gaining 1,791 yards on 372 carries for a very healthy 4.8-yard average.
He scored nine rushing touchdowns and caught passes for 291 yards  and two TD.

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The signing of starter D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson's all-around performance in training camp made it apparent Herbert would be a third back this season.

Herbert was slated to be the starter last year after David Montgomery left for Detroit in free agency. He had the nine starts, gained 611 yards on 132 carries, but split time with Roschon Johnson and D'Onta Foreman. He also was out for chunks of 2022 and 2023 with injuries, missing four games in 2022 and five last year.

Homer becomes the third back and has gained 16 yards on three carries this season. He was with the Bears last year but didn't get a carry or pass reception. His value this year is his pass blocking, receiving ability and knowledge of Shane Waldron's offense after he played from 2019-2022 for Seattle, the last two years in Waldron's attack.

Homer has averaged 5.5 yard per rush, largely as a third-down type of back. He has never had more than 25 rushing attempts in a season and averaged 21 rushing attempts a year for Seattle.

Last year the Bears went all the way through their first three running backs due to injuries and were forced to sign another back, Darrynton Evans, who carried the ball 30 times.

So it's not out of the question they would need to rely on a third running back, but apparently they like Homer's system experience over the production they had in the past with Herbert.

But if they got that far down the depth chart due to injuries, maybe they could turn to Kramer.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.