The Chicago Bears' running back depth chart has been the focus of attention since the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft. Incumbent starter D'Andre Swift didn't do enough during his first season with the Bears to earn confidence that he can be a bell cow. Former 2023 fourth-round pick Roschon Johnson has underwhelmed, too.
That left the 2025 draft as the most logical means to add legitimate competition for the RB1 role, but when GM Ryan Poles didn't select a running back until former Rutgers star Kyle Monangai in the seventh round, questions about the Bears' backfield increased.
Sure, there are a few veteran free agents who remain unsigned and could offer a boost to Ben Johnson's offense. Nick Chubb and J.K. Dobbins are the first two who come to mind. But the Bears seem comfortable -- for now -- to roll through the rest of the offseason with their current stable of running backs to see if any of them emerge as the answer to the mounting concerns.
Monangai, in particular, has a chance to be a rare seventh-round pick who turns into an every-week contributor, if not more.
“I think my football career path has kind of been one of, like, ‘He’s a good player, but there’s something off,’ ’’ Monangai told reporters after the Bears' rookie minicamp concluded Sunday. “Something that, ‘I don’t think I’m going to put him at the pedestal he should be.’
“I was never always talked about among the top guys, usually, from Pop Warner to middle school, high school, college and then now even. So it’s not a new space, not a new environment for me. It’s a role that I embrace, something that I take on. And I think it’s, honestly, what’s made me the player I am.”
Kyle Monangai has chance to make massive impact for the Chicago Bears
Monangai, who ran for more than 1,200 yards in each of his last two college football seasons, was considered a mid-round prospect by most NFL draft analysts. His disappointing performance at the 2025 NFL Combine (he ran a 4.6 40-yard dash and finished 24th among running backs on NFL.com's athleticism score) knocked him several rounds down the draft board, and now, he's viewed as a potential Day-3 steal for the Chicago Bears.
“I don’t concern myself with who went before me and all those things — the draft is over with,” Monangai said. “[It’s] definitely something I’ll take with me as some fuel, a chip on my shoulder. But that’s kind of been my whole career and my path to getting here. The things that allowed me to excel in college, I’ve got to figure that out at this level first, then use those things to my advantage."
Where a player got drafted and who was drafted before them means nothing now. In fact, for a prospect like Monangai, landing with the Bears in the seventh round is in many ways a better outcome than had he been selected by a team with an established running back in, say, the fourth or fifth round.
Indeed, the situation a player is drafted into often matters way more than the round they were picked.
For Monangai, he has a chance to earn starter's carries in Chicago. And if he does, he knows he'll produce like he did for the Scarlet Knights.
“I expect to see the same results," he said.
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