ClutchPoints
Unlike many teams around the league, the Chicago Bears have yet to make any significant cuts from their 2025 preseason roster. With final rosters due on Aug. 26, general manager Ryan Poles is coming down to the wire with Ben Johnson’s first team as head coach.
The Bears were one of the busiest teams early in the offseason, leaving them with a lot to consider in terms of their roster construction. Shortly after hiring Johnson, Chicago acquired star guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson via trade. The moves immediately addressed an offensive line that was arguably the worst in the league in 2024.
Chicago maintained the momentum in free agency, where it signed Grady Jarrett, Dayo Odeyingbo and Olamide Zaccheaus. Johnson’s influence was then prominent at the 2025 NFL Draft, where the Bears used five of their eight picks on offensive players, including their first three selections.
After going just 5-12 in 2024, the Bears have made transparently wholesale changes as they enter a new era. The shift has left several returning veterans in limbo, with five returning starters in danger of losing their position at the top of the depth chart.
The Bears’ goal in 2025 is clearly to build around Caleb Williams, which is what made the Johnson hire so vital to begin with. The first-year head coach has already left his mark on the organization in multiple facets and teased further adjustments coming during roster cuts.
The team did not endure a complete directional change in the offseason with Poles returning to lead the front office. However, Chicago has made it clear that the team will go in whichever direction Johnson desires. Expect the Bears to make a few noteworthy cuts as they finalize their 2025 roster.
Running back was the only offensive position that Johnson did not make any significant changes to in the offseason. The Bears added 2024 All-Big 10 rusher Kyle Monangai in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but return D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson as the leaders of the group.
Swift, who worked closely with Ben Johnson on the Detroit Lions, is the clear leader. He dominated the backfield in 2024, fielding 77.4 percent of the running back carries. Roschon Johnson was a distant No. 2, taking his 55 carries for 150 rushing yards.
While the Bears were a pass-heavy team in 2024, both by design and due to an unfavorable game script, they are expected to lean more on the run game in 2025 than they have in recent years. The Lions ran the ball at the eighth-highest rate in 2024 under Ben Johnson. Chicago will likely not match those numbers, but the team’s plan appears to involve its running backs more than it did last season.
The additional rushing usage will likely include more shared usage than anything else. Roschon Johnson is the de facto No. 2, but Monangai’s role has increased throughout the offseason. The Bears’ coaching staff raved about his physicality and...
