The Chicago Bears quickly moved on from David Montgomery by signing Travis Homer. The deal is worth only $1-$2.5M per year, so it is not quite the direct replacement, but when you add in the up-and-coming Khalil Herbert, the room is starting to come together. Most fans had eyes on big names and are surprised by the decision but when you break it down, Homer does make sense.
4. Chicago Bears will use Travis Homer on passing downs
Travis Homer has played 635 snaps. He was a passing down back on 81% of those snaps. 58% of the time he was running a route, and 23% of the time he was pass-protecting. Needless to say, they signed him to be a passing down back. Seattle has praised his pass protection throughout the years, and he has shown to be fearless when staring down the blitzing linebacker.
This makes a heck of a lot of sense. We have highlighted plenty of times throughout his two seasons in the NFL that Khalil Herbert struggles in both areas. He does not have the timing or understanding to help as a pass catcher and is just a speed bump as a pass protector.
To put this into perspective, Herbert has 612 career snaps and 70 pass protection repetitions. Then, Homer has 635 snaps and 145 pass-blocking reps. 23 more snaps, and 75 more in pass protection. It is clear these two have drastically different roles as running backs.
Still, Herbert is a big play hitter, and the team needed to play him more. Now, on first and second down, the role should be for Herbert. On obvious passing downs, they can get him off of the field, and get Travis Homer out there.
The Chicago Bears do not need a three-down back who can do everything. They needed someone to pick up a blitz. That should not cost much, and it did not cost much.
3. Travis Homer will help Chicago Bears on special teams
Beyond helping out on special teams, the Chicago Bears are getting a solid upgrade in pass protection as well. Throughout his career he has 725 special teams snaps, so yes, he plays more on special teams than he has on offense.
He is not returning punts and kicks, but he is on the punt and kick return units. He also was chasing down punts and kicks. He is a four-phase special teams option.
The Chicago Bears need guys that can provide in bits and pieces on offense while also being core special teams' options. The Chicago Bears getting the value of both phases at the price they did makes sense. Beyond that, this locks him onto the roster.
2. Travis Homer is athletic
One reason to bet on Travis Homer is that he has plenty of upside. Homer is coming off of his rookie deal and will be 25 this upcoming season. We know that is the type of free agent that Chicago wants to dip into.
Beyond that, Homer has a strong athletic profile. Below you can see how he compares to recent NFL running backs, as well as running backs who just participated in the combine.
You can see that he is a bit shorter, and pretty good weight. However, the big stand-out numbers are the explosion and speed. He had a really solid 40-yard dash but was even better when it came to the vertical and broad jumps.
It is interesting to note that the Chicago Bears added another player with the explosion of a big play. The team will have to add some more power at some point to this room, but it is clear that they value speed and explosion from their running backs. When you factor that in, they were not going to pay for David Montgomery.
1. Travis Homer does not have much tread on the tires
As noted, Travis Homer played about 81% of his snaps on passing downs. So, he was not used much as a runner. When you add in that he did not have a huge snap count, to begin with, there is very little tread on those tires.
Travis Homer has 83 rushes for 453 yards throughout his entire career. He also has 52 catches for 464 yards. There can be two ways to look at it. First, the Seahawks never trusted him to run the ball, what does that tell you?
The other thought is that Homer still has a lot of wear and tear ahead of him, especially with his athletic profile at age 25. The Chicago Bears could be using him more as a runner. Oh, and he does happen to be averaging 5.5 yards per carry, which is not too bad.
So, even if they do not go to him for more than 100 carries a season, the time they do go to him they are expecting pretty big gains. The combination of his ability to create big plays, work on special teams and pick up the blitz to complement Khalil Herbert add up to why he was signed.