Chicago Bears must sign one of these three running backs
By Ryan Sikes
Carlos Hyde
Playing in place of the injured Lamar Miller, Carlos Hyde had the best year of his career. He rushed for 1,070 yards on 245 carries while crossing the goal line six times. He’s similar to Howard in that he’s not really a threat to catch the ball out of the backfield, but the Chicago Bears already have two guys on the roster who can do that in Montgomery and Cohen.
Still, he broke 22 tackles last year and picked up 55 first downs. Just for reference, Howard broke eight tackles and picked up 55 first downs in his final season in Chicago. Hyde would very much be Howard-like, and it was evident last year that they missed the former Bear. Granted, the offensive line played terribly.
He’s 29 years old and has more mileage than both Freeman and Crowell in approximately the same amount of games. However, Hyde is a big physical back who gets a large portion of his yards after contact; 545 yards of his 1,070 yards last season.
| Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | From | To | AV | G | Att | Yds | TD | Y/A | Lng | Rec | Yds | TD | Y/R | Lng |
| 1 | Isaiah Crowell | 2014 | 2018 | 25 | 77 | 880 | 3803 | 27 | 4.3 | 85 | 117 | 922 | 1 | 7.9 | 53 |
| 2 | Devonta Freeman | 2014 | 2019 | 47 | 77 | 951 | 3972 | 32 | 4.2 | 75 | 257 | 2015 | 11 | 7.8 | 44 |
| 3 | Carlos Hyde | 2014 | 2019 | 31 | 80 | 1072 | 4370 | 32 | 4.1 | 61 | 129 | 709 | 3 | 5.5 | 19 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
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Final Thoughts
Cohen has been the subject of trade discussion this offseason given his down year in 2019. However, he’s still a valuable asset but was misutilized running through the tackles. The Chicago Bears should add another running back to their disposable to keep the chains moving while also taking some of the pressure off the quarterbacks, whoever that ends up being.