When the Bears used a fourth-round draft pick to add Roschon Johnson to their already crowded running backs room, the thought was they were building a three-headed monster to build on last year’s NFL-leading rushing attack. Khalil Herbert is the holdover from last year, and boasted the league’s best yards per carry average among non-QB rushers. Ryan Poles signed D’Onta Foreman in free agency, presumably to fill in for David Montgomery as a physical runner who could complement Herbert’s slashing style. Of course Justin Fields adds big time playmaking with his legs. The thought was Johnson would fill in as needed, while contributing as a core special teams player.
For most of the offseason that wasn’t the case, though. Throughout OTAs, minicamp and the first several weeks of training camp, Johnson was relegated to repping with the twos and threes while other guys like Travis Homer and Trestan Ebner took whatever small number of starting reps were leftover from Herbert and Foreman.
That all changed on Aug. 9, when Homer missed practice for an undisclosed reason. Johnson took first-team reps for the first time during situational drills and converted a first down on a 3rd-and-2 carry. From there, the Bears gave Johnson more and more opportunities, and continued to impress, culminating in a head-turning performance on Saturday in the team’s second preseason game.
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“He’s just very explosive through the hole but the things he does, everybody was excited,” said Khalil Herbert. “The physicality, the burst, I feel like he has a combination of everything. Those things and then once he gets a full head of steam and comes down running the ball at you, he’s going to make you pay for trying to tackle him.”
Johnson ended the day with seven carries for 32 yards (4.6 YPC) and one catch for 11 yards.
It’s preseason football and Johnson was playing against backups, so take the tape with a grain of salt, but if Johnson continues to put that type of effort on film he’ll play his way into more opportunities. That can only help the Bears as they try to build a balanced offense. The Bears need to become a more proficient passing team if they want to take a step forward towards NFC North and playoff contention, but running the ball is always going to be a part of their DNA.
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“I feel like any of us in that room, it’s no dropoff,” Herbert said. “We got a bunch of guys that get their ball in their hands, take it the distance, make big plays. I feel bad for defenses having to defend. When one of us gets tired and the other goes in, and it’s the same thing. One gets tired, another goes in, it’s the same thing. Having that is definitely a big benefit.”