Bear Digest

Why fantasy football owners should root for the Chicago Bears to draft Ashton Jeanty

Alan Goldsher

Ashton Jeanty (2) does Ashton Jeanty things against Oregon State
Ashton Jeanty (2) does Ashton Jeanty things against Oregon State / Brian Losness-Imagn Images
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The fun part of NFL free agency is all but done, and the NFL Draft is over a month away, so pigskin fans are thinking of one thing, and one thing only:

Fantasy football.

Yeah, we know, your fantasy draft will go down at the beginning of Q3 (give or take, depending on how impatient your league is) so any strategy we devise now will be useless then. Heck, any strategy we devise now will be useless tomorrow…but that won’t stop us from devising.

And part of devising your fantasy plans always involves deciding on which position to focus in the first three rounds of your draft.

Running Back To the Future

Here are Fantasy Pros’ consensus top five ranked players as of March 17:

  • 1) Saquon Barkley, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
  • 2) Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
  • 3) Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons
  • 4) Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
  • 5) Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions

Yeah, it’s early, and yeah, this is a teeny-tiny sample size, but the one definitive takeaway is that fantasy pundits are confident 2025 will be another RB-centric campaign—which would stand to reason, as last season, 12 of the first 15 non-quarterback fantasy point leaders board were running backs.

This is opposed to 2023, when just nine of the first 15 non-QB point producers were RBs.

Which is why you can expect fantasy owners to draft running backs early and often.

Rook Tonight

It’s difficult, if not impossible to gauge how a first-year player will perform in his new NFL digs, but that won’t stop Fantasy Pros from trying, as borne out by their top seven running backs:

  • RB1) Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles
  • RB2) Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons
  • RB3) Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions
  • RB4) Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens
  • RB5) Jonathan Tayor, Indianapolis Colts
  • RB6) Josh Jacobs, Green Bay Packers
  • RB7) Ashton Jeanty ?????????

Nobody will argue that incoming freshman Jeanty will be a fantasy force in his year one, but we won’t know just how forceful the Boise State stud will be until we know which uniform he’ll be wearing on Opening Day.

And savvy fantasy owners hope that uni is of the navy-and-orange variety.

Where There’s Chicago Fire, There’s Chicago Ash

It’s looking like Jeanty will be off the board by the time the Chicago Bears pick at ten on Draft Night, thus if Bears GM Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson want to bring the walking video game character to Halas Hall, they’ll likely need to get transactionally creative and trade up in order leapfrog the sixth-picking Las Vegas Raiders, a franchise still looking to replace Josh Jacobs.

Chicago will also have to keep an eye on the Dallas Cowboys, who also have Jeanty in their crosshairs, and might pull off a creative trade-up of their own.

Fantasy football fanatics will be paying close attention to Jeanty’s landing spot, as it could mean the difference between grabbing him in the second round or the sixth.

Y’see, if he lands in Chicago, round two is a distinct possibility.

Dallas or Vegas, not so much.

First, the Dallas Cowboys

Last season, the Cowboys run game was abysmal: They averaged 100.3 yards per game (27th in the league), and their rushing success rate was 38.86%, also 27th. Yuck.

As of right now, Dallas will roll into 2025 with only one change on the offensive line, which doesn’t bode well for their current RB1, Javonte Williams. The fact that the ’Boys’ game plans will be drawn up by first-year offensive coordinator Klayton Adams—who, in his four-year NFL coaching career has never drawn up a single game plan—won’t help matters.

Barring an O-line overhaul, fantasy owners would be best to avoid any and all Dallas rushers.

Second, the Las Vegas Raiders

Vegas’ run game—which, until he was whacked after nine games, was drawn up by really, really bad former Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy—was even worse than the Cowboys, as they finished 30th in rushing success rate (35.68%) and dead last in rushing yards (1,357). Double yuck.

In classic Raiders fashion, GM John Spytek looked at the O-line and thought, “Yeah, this is fine,” and signed exactly zero starting-level guards, tackles, or centers in free agency.

Compounding matters, if Vegas does indeed use their first-round pick on Jeanty, they’ll miss out on the draft's top offensive trenchmen, and poor Ashton will have a whole lot of nothing to work with.

Which brings us to the Windy City

Third, the Chicago Bears

Let’s throw Chicago’s 2024 rushing stats out the window, because everything at Halas Hall is different. Everything.

  • We’re talking three new top-shelf offensive linemen in Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, and Jonah Jackson.
  • We’re talking a new head coach in Ben Johnson, who loves to let his running backs eat.
  • And from the Department of Addition By Subtraction, we’re talking no more offensive plays called by Shane Waldron or Thomas Brown.

In Chicago, Ashton Jeanty would be walking—or, more accurately, sprinting—into a situation where he can succeed immediately.

And both Bears fans and fantasy players would love to see it.

Published |Modified
Alan Goldsher
ALAN GOLDSHER

Alan Goldsher has written about sports for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Apple, Playboy, NFL.com, and NBA.com, and he’s the creator of the Chicago Sports Stuff Substack. He’s the bestselling author of 15 books, and the founder/CEO of Gold Note Records. Alan lives in Chicago, where he writes, makes music, and consumes and creates way too much Bears content. You can visit him at http://www.AlanGoldsher.com and http://x.com/AlanGoldsher.

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