In Week 10 against the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears' backfield looked like something out of head coach Ben Johnson's days as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator. D'Andre Swift had 98 total yards (80 rushing) on 18 touches (five catches), while Kyle Monangai had a rushing touchdown among his seven carries for 28 yards.
While it would be ideal for managers who have Swift or Monangai to have their guy take like 90 percent of the workload, in Week 10, both were startable in fantasy.
As Swift has dealt with a groin issue lately, Monangai's role has grown. When Swift missed Week 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals, the rookie delivered with nearly 200 total yards (198) on 29 touches.
With Swift's history of eroded efficiency, the deeper it gets in a season, and a tendency to be banged up, Monangai's push into a prominent role is not going away.
Analyst has easy recommendation for D'Andre Swift's fantasy managers
The Bears were trailing the Giants in the fourth quarter last Sunday, which drove a tilt toward passing the ball. With that came a tilt toward Swift, the more experienced and better pass catcher for the team's two running backs. As Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus noted, that let to Swift's highest snap share in several weeks.
"Swift played 61.8% of the Bears' offensive snaps in Week 10, the most for him in a game since Week 4."
Jahnlke then went deeper, highlighting the aforementioned game script reason for the difference in snaps between Swift and Monangai and how it could be fleeting.
"Swift ran the ball 13 times for 80 yards and caught five passes for 18 yards. Monangai was held to seven carries for 28 yards but scored a touchdown for anyone who started him this week. The big differentiator in their snaps was the two-minute drill, where Swift played 11 of a possible 14 and 31 of a possible 48 on the season."
"In future weeks, when there are fewer snaps in the two-minute drill, Monangai could be back to playing at least 40% of the offensive snaps."
Swift fading late in a season is nothing new for fantasy managers who have rostered him in previous years, even without a specific injury or a notable threat to his workload. But Jahnke had a more direct reason for tabbing him a sell-high candidate after Week 10.
"Unfortunately, the Bears have the second-worst schedule for running backs over the rest of the season. Four of their next six opponents rank in the top eight at preventing fantasy points to running backs. The other three teams are the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. Those are all teams where the Bears could fall behind and not run the ball as much. The schedule is the bigger reason to trade Swift, more so than Swift’s injury or worries around Monangai."
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Swift can be an asset for his fantasy managers over the rest of the season. But as long as his groin injury lingers, more missed games or games with a reduced workload are in play. So it's time for his managers to explore what the trade market might yield, with a soft stretch of schedule behind him and plenty of factors pointing toward a tough run during the most important time on the fantasy schedule.