Who Should I Start? Khari Blasingame or D'Andre Swift

Thursday, February 22, 2:00 PM

Chicago Bears fullback Khari Blasingame is the team's next candidate to be released this offseason after the Bears already released safety Eddie Jackson and guard/center Cody Whitehair in cost-cutting moves. The moves to release Jackson and Whitehair saved nearly $22 million against the 2024 salary cap. Releasing Blasingame would result in $1.6 million in savings with no dead money left on the books. He's a true fullback who could fit into new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron's visions, but he's also a stalwart on special teams. The 27-year-old has played in 32 games (eight starts) for the Bears the last two years and has just eight carries for 26 yards and three receptions for two yards.

Tuesday, March 26, 4:39 PM

The Chicago Bears signing of former Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles running back D'Andre Swift was one of the first moves of free agency, and head coach Matt Eberflus suggested he will be a passing game weapon for the organization. "We just felt that we wanted a home-run hitter there. I think D'Andre brings that. We wanted a weapon back -; a guy who could be a weapon out of the backfield," Eberflus said. "I know that in situational football it's very difficult to be able to have the two guys outside covered, two tight ends covered, and then you got another situation where you have the weapon back inside. So that was critical." It sounds like Chicago is planning to utilize Swift out of the backfield more often, which was a role he excelled in while in Detroit. Swift posted just a 10% target share in his lone season in Philadelphia after being at 15.1% in 2022 and 18.4% in 2021. With Chicago almost certainly slated to take USC's Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Swift could see a ton of usage underneath as a receiver while Williams feels out the NFL game.