With the contract they gave him in 2024 free agency, it was easy to see coming. Due to lack offensive imagination or a perceived lack of other options, the Chicago Bears were going to force-feed D'Andre Swift as many touches as he could possibly handle last season. Indeed, he played all 17 games and had a career-high 253 carries and 295 touches.
Of course that volume, as his previous two teams could have told you, came at the expense of efficiency. Swift averaged just 3.8 yards per carry and 4.6 yards per touch, and only so much of the blame for that first number can be blamed on an offensive line that underperformed.
The Bears remodeled their offensive line this offseason, so it's easy to think Swift will be a lot more effective as a runner in 2025. But head coach Ben Johnson, with one season of overlap as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator when Swift was there, also knows what it looks like to try to give Swift workhorse-level volume. After that season, Lions head coach Dan Campbell essentially gave up on Swift and foreshadowed trading him (to the Philadelphia Eagles) on Day 3 of the 2023 draft.
In fantasy football terms Swift has been nothing if not consistent, finishing as the RB19 (2024), the RB20 (2023) and the RB21 (2022), the RB15 (2021) and the RB18 (2020) in full PPR scoring (through Week 17 or 18, depending on the season) over the course of his career. So even with some latent optimism for 2025, fantasy managers pretty much know what to expect.
D'Andre Swift lands in totally appropriate spot in PFF fantasy ranking
Pro Football Focus fantasy analyst Nathan Jahnke has rolled out his updated running back rankings for early-July. Swift came in at No. 23.
"D'Andre Swift has spent five seasons in the NFL, playing for three different teams and more offensive coordinators. His role has fluctuated from an early down back to a passing down back, and everywhere in between. Last season, he was an early-down back and low-end fantasy starter who earned a lot of playing time but low efficiency. Ben Johnson is the new head coach of the Chicago Bears, and Swift worked with Johnson in 2022 with the Detroit Lions, when he set a career-low in carries per game but a career-high in yards per attempt as their third-down back. It’s unclear what his role will be this season as Chicago hasn’t changed the backfield much, but there is still a chance Chicago will add another running back."
Via Fantasy Pros, Swift's ADP has edged up into low-end RB2 territory in full and 0.5-point PPR (RB24). That should be where he settles in through the rest of draft season, so he remains something of a value pick for fantasy managers who are optimistic.
The July 1 episode of "The Fantasy Footballers" podcast was rooted in a "Too Hot To Handle" segment, as in if a player is "too hot to handle" at their current ADP. Swift was one of the players co-hosts Andy Holloway and Jason Moore discussed, as Holloway noted a palatable ADP in best ball as evidence Swift is "not even remotely" too hot to handle.
Moore then nailed the appropriate counter-point.
"I don't wanna draft him, though", Moore said..."I mean he's not too hot to handle because he's the running back what?....Being drafted at RB29, that's basically what his floor is. And I think that's probably below what his floor is, barring injury. So he's clear not too hot to handle. I still don't wanna draft him, man...what is his upside? I don't think he can be a top-10 running back...I feel like this is a player, we know exactly who he is. He's frustrating."
Holloway is generally higher on Swift than Moore is, which is appropriate symbolism for how fantasy analysts have been divided on the 2025 outlook for the Bears' No. 1 running back. It comes down to what feels like a small percentage chance of an absolute ceiling he has yet to show, say finishing as a top-10-to-12 running back, with a floor that could be quite low if things go a certain way.
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Being able to draft him as your RB2, or maybe even your RB3 depending on how a draft shakes out, invites the vague upside potential while eliminating any great downside risk.