Through the early part of the season, apart of from how generally ineffective he was as a runner, D'Andre Swift's workload felt unsustainable. Then he emerged from the Week 6 game against the Washington Commanders with a groin injury, and the issue has persisted. To that end, rookie Kyle Monangai played over 40 percent of the offensive snaps in the following two games with 20 carries to Swift's 30 carries over that span.
With Swift out in Week 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Monangai took over as the lead back for the Bears and delivered 176 yards on 26 carries along with three catches for 22 yards. The praise head coach Ben Johnson has had for the rookie going back to June was proven unequivocally.
Before his breakout against the Bengals, as he took on more work, fantasy managers should've had Monangai somewhere on their radar as a speculative waiver wire stash in case something happened to Swift.
Facing the league's worst run defense has to be taken into account, but that "in case" scenario came to full fruition for Monangai against the Bengals.
ESPN analyst reveals how Bears backfield should look moving forward
In Week 10, the Bears will face the New York Giants, who are in line to enter the week allowing the third-most fantasy points per game to running backs (Yahoo! scoring). So it's another great matchup for Monangai, regardless of Swift's availability.
In his assessment of potential overreactions from Week 9, ESPN's Dan Graziano led his quick-hitter fantasy overreactions with one about the Bears' backfield.
"Bears running back Kyle Monangai will continue to be fantasy relevant even once D'Andre Swift is back healthy:"
"NOT AN OVERREACTION."
"No, he's not going to rush for 176 yards every week, but the seventh-round rookie out of Rutgers carved out a role even before Swift missed Sunday's game because of an injury. Monangai will still be part of the plan. And here's where everyone says something about Ben Johnson and how he made both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery fantasy-relevant in Detroit."
Graziano made light of how Johnson's backfield worked in Detroit with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, but it was a legit thing that yielded two fantasy-relevant running backs. Before he missed the game against the Bengals, albeit while battling his lower-body injury, it's also clear that Swift was more effective when Monangai was getting more work.
Monangai's performance against the Bengals will surely stand as the best of his rookie season. However, it also marks the moment he fully stepped into a noticeable role in the Bears' backfield, and he made a case to be the RB1 over Swift when the veteran can return.
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Fantasy managers who failed to get on the Monangai bandwagon before Sunday probably missed the boat. However, he is still available in about one-third of ESPN leagues and 29 percent of Yahoo! leagues before Week 10 waivers commence.