Chicago Bears are stuck with D’Andre Swift—and it’s a problem

Alan Goldsher | Mar 14, 2025

Chicago Bears running back D'Andre Swift / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

This from first-year Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson:

"[Running back D’Andre Swift] is an explosive athlete. There’s a number of things [sic] that he can do both in the running game and in the passing game. I do think he can help ignite an offense because he’s got that playmaking ability, so it’ll be fun to start to work together again here this springtime with him."

This from Bears On SI’s Alan Goldsher, a.k.a., me:

“Running back D’Andre Swift isn’t great at football.”

Two things can be true at once, so Ben and I are both right: Johnson is correct in hailing the running back’s athleticism, while I’m on point about him, y’know, not being great at football.

Don’t Get Me Wrong—D’Andre Swift Isn’t Terrible

Okay, Swift can play some. If he catches a screen in space, he can be flat-out dangerous, and when his O-line gives him a hefty-sized chunk of daylight, he can make some noise.

D'ANDRE SWIFT. 39-YARD TOUCHDOWN,

📺: #GBvsCHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/PoA4J3uRFm

— NFL (@NFL) November 17, 2024

But if there’s a defender within arm’s length, not so much. Swift’s broken tackle percentage in 2024 was 11.9%, among the worst for any starting running back in the league, as per Rotowire.

Athleticism or not, we’ve seen enough of the 26-year-old to know he’s not a championship-level running back.

How many plays can the Bears call which end with D’Andre Swift losing five yards? pic.twitter.com/7T5eT77MBb

— Steve (@steveowhitesox) September 16, 2024

Problem is, the Bears are likely stuck with him.

A Numbers Game

Swift’s contract is among the most baffling doled out by the Bears during the regime of GM Ryan Poles, especially when compared to those inked by two of the higher-end 2024 free agent running backs:

Saquon Barkley

• Three years, $37.75 million

Derrick Henry:

• Two years, $16 million

D'Andre Swift

• Three years, $24 million

A quick peek at the Bears On SI abacus tells us that last season, Barkley raked in $11 million, Henry took home $8 million, and Swift banked $8 million of his own.

As a thought exercise, let’s see the trio’s dollar-per-yard cost:

Saquon Barkley

• $5,486

Derrick Henry

• $6,037

D'Andre Swift

• $8,474

(It should be noted that Poles made Barkley an offer, and he was, as he put it, “…pretty damn close” to landing in Chicago. But Poles’ pivot to Swift—which apparently happened super-fast, as Swift’s signing was among the first announced at the beginning of the legal tampering period—turned out to be an expensive, exceedingly iffy proposition.)

Swift has a lousy deal, and hasn’t demonstrated that he’s anything but a mid-level player, thus the University of Georgia product will likely be decamped in Chicago for the immediate future.

Rookie Running Backs Will Abound—but Trade Opportunities Likely Won't

As the 2025 NFL Draft is loaded with potential-laden RBs—Ashton Jeanty, Omarion Hampton, Quinshon Johnson, or Kaleb Johnson, anyone?—few, if any franchises will want anything to do with an overpaid, under-producing back, no matter how athletic he is.

That said, it’s always worth picking up the phone.

• Maybe the New York Giants don’t think Tyrone Tracy Jr. is the answer, and they could throw Chicago one of their 2025 seventh-round draft picks (219 or 246) in exchange for Swift.

• Maybe Cleveland wants to pull the plug on the Jerome Ford experiment, and they’d offer a seventh-rounder of their own (254).

If I’m Ryan Poles, I’m jumping on either of those deals, then let Johnson roll with whichever rookie back after whom Chicago lusts—Jeanty will likely be gone by the time the Bears are on the clock at the 10-spot, unfortunately—so a trade down could net them Hampton and an additional pick, with whom Johnson could pair with last season’s RB2 (when healthy), Roschon Johnson.

Unfortunately, the chances of New York, or Cleveland, or, well, anybody taking a flyer on Swift are incremental. So Ben Johnson will have to make do with a (theoretically) explosive athlete who cost Ryan Poles almost nine-grand per rush yard.