Experience Lacking in Bears Backfield

Bears 2023 Training Camp Preview: If you're looking for starting experience, the Bears running backs room is short on totals, giving Roschon Johnson a chance at a rapid breakthrough.

In relative terms, Roschon Johnson only very recently became a running back.

The Bears rookie from Texas started out his college career at quarterback, converted to running back, and described the change it caused in the way he runs with the football.

"If you go back and watch my film from my freshman year up to my senior year, it's really how I use my body as a weapon and how I run through contact and just the little nuance of the position," he said. "I think I definitely grew into that as I progressed."

Known for his physical style but not as fast in the 40-yard dash as Bears backs Khalil Herbert or D'Onta Foreman coming out of college, it still would surprise no one to see Johnson emerge as either the back with the most carries or at least close to the same number of carries veterans.

There is a good reason for this: The Bears are playing this season with a group of running backs who haven't played very much. They're all relatively inexperienced.

So Johnson isn't at the disadvantage in this competition you might think for being a rookie who switched to running back early in his college career.

The Bears ran 993 plays last year and Herbert took part in 301. As a rookie, Herbert took part in 313 plays. He has 232 carries, 129 coming last year. A 232-carry season is close to what David Montgomery has averaged but Herbert has that for two years, Herbert was a back who split time in college.

Foreman has been in the NFL six seasons and averages seven games per year, although he actually played only five of those previous years because of injuries. He has started 12 games. Until last season at Carolina, he had 240 total carries for four seasons. Last year represented his breakthrough in playing time with 203 rushes for the 353 plays he was on the field, or about 35% of the plays Carolina had. He has 790 total plays for five years.

Considering Travis Homer has the most total games played in the NFL of all the Bears halfbacks (49) and he was brought in simply because of his special teams and passing game abilities, there is no thick wall of experience Johnson needs to break through to get his chance. He'll just need to produce when he does get chances.

"Now, we know that multiple guys are going to be needed, that's just the way things go," Bears runnning backs coach David Walker said.

It sounds as if Johnson will get a fair chance to earn the playing time from Walker's description of how play reps will be handled at training camp.

"So in terms of the managing, as guys deserve more reps because of their play, they will get more reps because of their play," Walker said. "That's kind of how we do things around here in terms of early on. There will be a set and everybody will be involved.

"But as guys start to, if they start to separate themselves, the guys that deserve more reps will get more reps."

While it would be surprising to see Herbert yielding a starting spot to Johnson after a season when he led the NFL's running backs in yards per carry (5.7), and for Foreman to give some up carries after he averaged 4.5 yards a rush as a load back half of last season, it can happen. The overall inexperience all of them have is the crease Johnson needs to run through to get chances.

It sounds as if pass blocking will be critical, too. Johnson doesn't need to worry there even as a rookie.

"When No. 1 (Justin Fields) is behind you, you better (deleted) hold up, however you got to do it," Walker said. "But the expectation is, you have a job and do your job. That's the expectation."

Walker's description of Johnson's pass blocking is not the kind of thing a veteran would expect to hear about a rookie.

"He's got a good punch, he can set and be in the right position on both interior and outside rushers, and we’ll find out a little bit more when we can go live against people," Walker said. "But he's shown he's got a strike and puts his body in position. He understands leverage. When I say leverage, in interior rush, I want to square up a guy in the inside, but if I was blocking that edge guy, I want to be slightly inside leverage on a guy.

"He understands body position, leverage; he has a strike. He'll end up being fine."

It all adds up to real competition for veterans in the Bears backfield group.

The Starter

RB Khalil Herbert: No. 24, the 5-9, 212-pound third-year player from Virginia Tech made 21 runs of 10 yards or longer last year and appears the favorite for the starting role. There could be concern about how many carries he can handle at 217 pounds -- his playing weight last year was 212 and he said he added 5 pounds in the off-season but expects to lose some of it. Herbert has had 10 games when he had at least 10 carries but has averaged 5.02 yards a carry for 232 rushes, or about the equivalent of a starter's workload for one NFL season. No one could complain about 5.02 yards a carry and now his playing time appears to depend on how he adapts to more passing situations because he has been on the field for only 70 pass blocking situations in two seasons.

The Backups

FB Khari Blasingame: No. 35, the 6-foot, 233-pound blocker in the backfield is technically not a starter but is if they go to certain formations. The Bears deployed him only about one-fifth of offensive plays and used him for only blocking except one incomplete pass. Blasingame's size and experience in a wide-zone scheme with Tennessee make him valuable if the Bears are in kill-the-clock mode. Pro Football Focus didn't list him in grades against other fullbacks because he didn't get enough playing time last year but his overall grades when he did play were better than every fullback except 300-pounder Patrick Ricard of Baltimore and Kyle Juszczyk of San Francisco.

RB D'Onta Foreman: No. 21, the 6-foot, 235-pounder came out of Texas running a sub-4.5 40 and appeared capable of overpowering defenses out of the deep tailback position. However, injuries set back his career and really only showed what he was capable of replacing injured Derrick Henry in Tennessee in 2021 and Christian McCaffrey after the trade by Carolina last year. Foreman has been in the league five seasons but missed a season rehabbing an injury. He started 12 games, played in 43 and at age 27 has a great deal of tread on his tires so to speak. He has only the equivalent of two good starting seasons played with 433 carries but he averages 4.3 yards an attempt.

RB Roschon Johnson: No. 30, is a big ball carrier at 6-2, 222 and also a good-sized target in the passing game. Their fourth-round pick from Texas this year, 115th overall, is a bit faster in the 40 than Montgomery was coming out of Iowa State with a time of 4.58 in the 40. He runs with power and efficiency, and even though he was Bijan Robinson's backup PFF gave him grades of 82.0 or higher all four of his college season, which is a high score. PFF also gave him a 45% forced-missed-tackle rate over his final two seasons, ranking first among all NCAA backs who had at least 190 rushes.

RB Travis Homer: No. 20, is a 5-10, 202-pound third-down style back acquired in free agency after four seasons with Seattle. He had 83 carries in four years but showed a smaller back can pass block well and has has caught 52 of 61 career targets as a receiver (85%). His career rushing average of 5.5 yards a carry is elevated a bit by breaking a few longer runs when defenses were in passing situations. He had a 73-yard run in 2023 which made a huge difference in his average. Homer has been an above-average pass blocker who has had 136 pass block sets, which is 13 more than all of the other Bears halfbacks combined.

RB Trestan Ebner: No. 25, their 5-11, 206-pound sixth-round pick from Baylor, barely had a chance to show anything last year behind Herbert and Montgomery but was a vital player on special teams. He had just 54 yards on 24 carries and had two catches in eight targets for 8 yards with one drop. At Baylor, he had was in a backup role but averaged a robust 11.9 yards per reception with 127 catches. He ran 343 times in five years for 4.9 yards a carry.

FB Robert Burns: No. 45, a 5-11, 222-pound undrafted rookie from Connecticut. He impressed with blocking in college even as a running back and has been converted to a backup fullback position after gaining 10-15 pounds. He had run for 374 yards on 74 attempts in his final year of college at UConn after transfering, and had five receptions. He made only 47 carries over his first three years while buried on the backfield depth chart at Miami.

2023 Running Back Prospectus

There is the potential for more quality depth at the position but there is no way to describe their starting situation other than inexperienced. At least D'Onta Foreman has been around a while, but having carried only 107 times his first three seasons means he hasn't been exposed much to all game situations. They have numerous players who have the ability to contribute in various ways but Johnson and Herbert might be their best chances for an all-around back who eventually is on the field the most. Regardless, all of the backs can look better with fewer tacklers in the box thanks to the threat Justin Fields poses pulling the ball and taking off or throwing on the run in run-pass option. What will be interesting is if Foreman is in the game and they try RPO, because his history is facing seven- and eight-man boxes as a power back running from deep in the formation. If he shows he can run just as hard in RPO situations when he's facing only six men in a box, he might have a chance to devastate some defenses as they focus too much on Fields. Whatever way it breaks down, there is no shortage of talent, just experience.

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