Chicago Bears: 4 Running backs to target in 2019 NFL Draft

If the Chicago Bears decide to move on from Jordan Howard they may want to get someone in the draft. Here are three prospects who could help.

The Chicago Bears took a big step in 2018. They finally rewarded the fans who kept the faith through some lean seasons after their last playoff appearance in 2010. They revamped the offense and tried to give quarterback Mitchell Trubisky weapons in an attempt to develop him and improve the offense.

The offense did improve, but it still far from a finished product. The scoring made a big jump, going from 29th in 2017 to ninth in scoring. The total yards, however, only improved from 30th to 21st. While the scoring jump is great, they had times when they struggled to move the ball and had the defense bail them out.

Yes, the Chicago Bears had the most dominating defense in the league, but they are looking for some balance. The team had some 40-point games and 30-point games but they also had a 16-point game, a 15-point game, and a 14-point game. Then they went into the playoffs, where it gets very tough to gain yards and score points, and put up 15 points in a loss.

I agree that part of the reason for the inconsistencies was Trubisky. He was learning his third offense in three years, though, so another offseason letting the system sink in will help him get better. The other reason for the struggles was the passing game coming out of the backfield struggled.

Jordan Howard is a very good runner. He had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to start his career. Despite struggling to get yards early in the season, he ended up with 935 rushing yards. He only had 145 receiving yards, however.

Head coach Matt Nagy’s system depends on having the running back catching passes from the backfield consistently. It appears that Howard couldn’t show that ability in practice because the coaching staff didn’t have confidence in him to throw the ball his way during games.

Having a running back make catches out of the backfield frees the wide receivers downfield. Trubisky struggled somewhat throwing deep downfield. Part of the reason for that is that the receivers were covered pretty well most of the time. Without having to worry about someone underneath coming out of the backfield opponents could cover the receivers well. If the defenses have to account for the running back, it frees up a receiver.

Here is a list of running backs available in the 2019 NFL Draft who fit the type of running back Nagy’s system needs.