Fantasy Upside
After his first career 1,000-yard rushing performance in one lone year with the Eagles, D'Andre Swift finds himself back in the NFC North. While maintaining his involvement in the passing game (39-214-1 on 47 targets), his 58.5% backfield snap rate was a nice boon to his bottom line after handling only 99 rushing attempts with the Lions in 2022. Being removed from a passing attack headed by Jalen Hurts should help him accumulate some more check-down receptions after running on air in most of those situations last season. His 0.77 yards per route run had a lot to do with his quarterback simply taking off with the ball. A majority role as the third-down back for Caleb Williams creates a sizable fantasy floor.
Fantasy Downside
Swift earned a bigger piece of the pie in Philadelphia by beating out Kenneth Gainwell, but things may not be quite as easy with the Bears. Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson combined for 961 yards on 4.5 YPC while adding 343 yards on 6.3 yards per reception last season, and they're both still in town to fight for touches. Herbert should push for a one-two punch with Swift, but if Johnson eats into the touches as well, it could be an annoying year for Swift's fantasy managers.
2024 Bottom Line
In a bid to create the best infrastructure they could around their new franchise QB, the Bears filled as many of their holes as they could, including signing D'Andre Swift to the third-highest AAV contract given to a running back this offseason. This bodes well for Swift, seeing plenty of the field, and his role in the receiving game should be locked in, though he will have to fight three legitimate receiving options for targets. When this happened in Philadelphia (Brown, Smith, Goedert) he ended up logging 0.21 target per route run, ranking 35th among the position. Swift is a good-not-great player but earned a sizable contract, which means the team thinks quite highly of him. He has a great floor as a low-end RB2 but returns aren't likely to be much higher than that.
