Chicago Bears: College players to watch for the 2021 NFL Draft

The NFL draft will be crazy

If the Chicago Bears big elusive running back, David Montgomery, doesn’t work out or Tarik Cohen isn’t resigned (update: Cohen is now a Chicago Bear for a lot longer), it’s not the end of the world for the 2021 NFL season. Matt Nagy shipped off Jordan Howard to give playing time to a different version of Jordan Howard.

While Montgomery forces a lot of missed tackles, his production is relatively similar to Howard’s. Nagy was looking for a Kareem Hunt clone and might have missed on that with Montgomery. It is too early to tell, but  Rakeem Boyd from Arkansas has the build of something that Nagy might fall in love with instead.

Listed at 6’0 213 pounds, Boyd runs a lot like Matt Forte. He is a bit upright, but Boyd is a no-nonsense runner who gets upfield and turns on his limited burst. Boyd won’t outrun everybody, but he will cut once and get up-field. Boyd has also caught 42 passes so far in his career. He has limited mileage on him, with 307 carriers.  Boyd would need another 350 carries this season to tie the workload David Montgomery had during his tenure with Iowa State.

The Denver Broncos drafted Royce Freeman in the third round of the 2018 NFL draft. He hasn’t panned out too well for them. Not saying that Montgomery won’t for the Chicago Bears, but adding to the running back room sooner rather than later would not be a bad idea. If anything else, imagine having two running backs that could take over the game if needed while being durable and having size.