After operating in the shadow of Bijan Robinson at the University of Texas, Roschon Johnson entered the NFL in 2023 as an interesting running back prospect. In thee fourth round (No. 115 overall), it was easy to think the Chicago Bears got a potential steal.
Johnson then sat behind the underwhelming duo of D'Onta Foreman and Khalil Herbert as a rookie, with 561 yards from scrimmage on 115 touches (81 carries). Last year, with D'Andre Swift being force-fed the ball (295 touches) despite a lack of efficiency (3.8 yards per carry), Johnson saw noticeably less work than he did as a rookie (71 touches) despite having the same number of rushing touchdowns as Swift (six).
If Johnson had gotten enough carries to qualify, his rushing success rate (56.4 percent) would have been fourth-best among running backs last season. His success rate as a pass catcher (40 percent) was also acceptable, and his combined success rate on his touches was better than Swift's.
There's a strong argument that Johnson was very underutilized by the previous coaching staff. We can also bet that head coach Ben Johnson will make an effort to fix that this season. It's worth repeating that Johnson knows firsthand what it looks like to try to give Swift a high volume of touches, based on the three years they spent together in Detroit.
The question is, how will the workload behind Swift be divided? Looking toward training camp, rookie Kyle Monangai is set to be a factor in a competition for the RB2 spot with Johnson. So while Swift may not be all that appealing to have on a roster, there's a chance he's by far the best Bears' running back for fantasy purposes this year.
But there is another possibility.
Fantasy analyst invites high-end outcome for Roschon Johnson in 2025
In a big picture sense, the third year of a four-year rookie contract, 2025, is a big year for Johnson. He is in line for more opportunities this year, but it obviously won't take much for that to be the case, and the overall situation is far better for the entire Bears' offense.
As part of a fresh set of bold fantasy predictions for this year, Moe Moton of Bleacher Report offered up the notion of Johnson emerging as a top handcuff running back.
"Johnson could fit D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson into similar roles to those of Gibbs and Montgomery, respectively. If so, both running backs would have great fantasy value. Gibbs was the RB1 and Montgomery finished as the RB18 in PPR leagues last season ... Still, Johnson could log more than 200 carries in a run-heavy offense like Montgomery did in 2023. The Lions tailback would have likely eclipsed 200 rushing attempts in 2024 if he hadn't missed the last three games."
"If Johnson averages more than four yards per carry, as he did in his 2023 rookie campaign, the Bears' No. 2 running back could be a massive steal in fantasy drafts."
Drawing any parallel between Johnson and Lions' running back David Montgomery is aggressive, but Moton also isn't the first to do so about how Ben Johnson might dole out the touches in the Bears' backfield this year as he tries to repeat what has been successful in Detroit. Swift is more comparable to Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, while Johnson's build is similar to Montgomery's.
Read more: D'Andre Swift has appropriate place in fresh PFF fantasy running back ranking
That said, with an ADP right now (and it may very well stay there all the way through draft season), Johnson is a worthy late-round flier in leagues with more than 10 teams. And, as anyone might be inclined to do so, along the lines of Moton's prediction, he is the handcuff to Swift unless Monangai wins the RB2 spot in training camp.