Ashton Jeanty may be the best player the Chicago Bears do not take this year.
Projections on the Bears differ when it comes to what they need in the NFL draft, but there has been an undercurrent through the league that they are interested in the Boise State running back. If only he’s there when it’s their turn.
The Bears are counting on new coach Ben Johnson to spark an offensive renaissance after he directed the highest-scoring team in the league in Detroit. Maybe you’ve heard of the catchy nickname for the Lions backfield — Sonic and Knuckles, with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery playing those roles, respectively.
Jeanty is so talented he could be both Sonic and Knuckles, and there is at least a chance he will be an option for Bears general manager Ryan Poles.
Last fall, Jeanty looked like a Division I workhorse running through, around and by high school players on Friday nights as he compiled video-gamelike statistics in leading the Broncos to a 12-2 season and spot in the College Football Playoff.
Boise State offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, who worked for the program during Jeanty’s freshman season in 2022 and returned last year, knew the back was going to be good. But that good?
Jeanty immediately inserted himself as a rare Heisman Trophy candidate from the Mountain West Conference when he rushed for 267 yards and six touchdowns in a season-opening victory at Georgia Southern, including runs of 77 and 75 yards. He finished a close second to Colorado wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter in Heisman voting.
“He came out of the gate and rushed for 267 yards and had unbelievable long runs,” said Koetter, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach who also was an offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons. “I just didn’t know he had that kind of home run speed.”
The legend of Jeanty grew — quickly — as he ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns, including a 70-yarder, the next week in a 37-34 loss at Oregon, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation entering the playoffs. Three weeks later he had 259 yards and four scores in a romp at Washington State with long touchdowns of 64 and 59 yards. Defenders put both arms on him time and again, and he just kept going.
“He broke so many tackles in that game,” Koetter recalled. “That one run that gets shown over and over on ESPN, it’s like their whole defense hit him at one time or another.”
Jeanty’s timing is perfect as the best at the position in a loaded draft class the year after the running back made a big return in the NFL. Saquon Barkley, signed by the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency in 2024 after the Chicago Bears pursued him, challenged Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, finishing with 2,005 yards before leading the team to a Super Bowl LIX victory. The top-six rushing teams in the league made the playoffs, including the Green Bay Packers and Lions.
It begs the question whether Jeanty is good enough for the Bears — who have made a splash since the hiring of Johnson by fortifying the trenches — to detour from rebuilding the roster from the inside out and draft a running back in the first round for the first time since selecting Cedric Benson fourth in 2005.
Poles and Johnson were at Ohio State’s pro day Wednesday when Boise State held its pro day. The team’s West Coast scout, Reese Hicks, was in attendance. Top brass does not need to see Jeanty perform in shorts (video is available) when his game tape is packed with wow moments. Plus, Jeanty is one of 30 prospects the Bears are bringing to Halas Hall for a predraft visit.
Positional value has been a talking point for running backs, just as it is for positions such as safeties, guards and off-the-ball linebackers. Questions for the Bears linger at left tackle. They have struggled drafting and developing pass rushers and could use a defensive end to team with Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo. You can make a case an athletic defensive tackle would be a wise addition.
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Plus, they have considerable options after Jeanty as running back is arguably the most stacked position in the draft. It gives Poles, his staff and Johnson plenty to consider in the next month as they weigh attractive options that include two picks in the top of Round 2 at Nos. 39 and 41.
“It’s always been my philosophy, and I really think it’s coming back around to what I’ve believed in — that a dominant running back sets the tone for the offense,” one general manager said on the condition of anonymity. “You can ask any offensive lineman that’s ever played the game, they love to run block. When you can run the ball, you set the tone for the game. That player lifts the whole offense up and opens up a lot of stuff in the passing game.
“Even though this is a passing league and everybody is emphasizing points, I have always thought the running back sets the tone for the game offensively because it also gets the O-line in rhythm.”
He went on to say the Eagles wouldn’t have rolled to a 14-3 regular season and title without Barkley.
“I don’t think the question should be about position value,” the GM said. “The question should be is this a guy who can come in and dominate games? Shoot, who touches the ball more than the running back other than the quarterback? Now the skill set has changed over the years. He has got to be a runner and a receiver. He’s got to be on the field three downs. He’s got to be able to catch the ball and make plays in space. He can’t be a one-dimensional, between-the-tackles guy. But if you’re picking him up in that area, he’s a three-down guy.”
Turns out Poles and Johnson didn’t miss a lot Wednesday. Jeanty, who opted against working out at the combine, chose not to run the 40-yard dash. Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. did the same a year ago, and it’s unlikely to affect the running back’s stock. There’s plenty of evidence of how fast and elusive he is. Jeanty did run routes and catch passes with Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek in attendance. The Raiders pick sixth.
There’s no doubt Poles is hunting a running back in this draft. Johnson praised D’Andre Swift, with whom he worked in Detroit, and it stands to reason the Bears are, at minimum, seeking a back with different traits who can establish a physical identity similar to what Montgomery gives the Lions.
A franchise that counts in its legacy some of the greatest running backs ever to play the sport — Walter Payton, Gale Sayers and Red Grange, among others — has finished in the top 10 in rushing only four times since 2000, and the two most recent instances (second in 2023, first in 2022) were because quarterback Justin Fields propped up the numbers. In that same 25-season span, the Bears have ranked in the bottom 10 nine times.
Jeanty seemingly would give the Bears a chance to transform their offense with Caleb Williams, and a dynamic ground game would take pressure off the quarterback as he learns a new scheme in his second season.
“I’ve seen a lot of Jeanty,” said a national scout with more than 30 years in the business. “I can’t remember one as good as him since Saquon. He’s good-good. He does some stuff with contact balance and power, and it’s almost like the Matrix some of the s— he does. It’s crazy. His combination of power, balance and change of direction is really good.”
Good-good enough to go in the top 10, a range only six running backs were selected in over the last decade?
“Yes,” the national scout said. “There’s just not enough good players in this draft, to be honest with you. When you put him on (tape) and you’re just watching, and I understand level of competition, but the stuff he does, it doesn’t matter who he’s going to play against.”
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One of the reasons the positional-value conversation does take place is running backs can have shorter careers. Sink a huge investment in a back who becomes injured — which happened with Benson before he went to the Cincinnati Bengals — and it can set a team back. The San Francisco 49ers made a huge trade for Christian McCaffrey and paid him handsomely. He has been elite — when he has been on the field.
“I don’t think there is push back on drafting a running back in the top 10,” said a second national scout with more than 15 years of experience. “The whole, ‘You can find a running back anywhere’ is bull—-. The duration of their career is shorter, I guess, and I am sure the money gurus have done studies on it and they have some hypotheses of why they are lower-valued.
“But if you’re looking at it as a five-year player and, shoot, running backs can play six, seven, eight years, I’ve never believed that. If it’s an elite player, you take him wherever you have to. I don’t care if it’s a guard, a safety or a running back, take the guy.”
Comparisons for Jeanty, who measured 5-foot-8½ inches and weighed 211 pounds at the scouting combine, are fun. He’s similarly built to Maurice Jones-Drew, who was 5-7, 207 when he entered the NFL in 2006. But Jeanty probably has more breakaway speed. He’s electric in the open field like Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson once was. He runs with the power of prolific backs who were significantly larger.
Koetter ticked off a list of dynamic backs he worked with in the NFL, including Jones-Drew, Fred Taylor, Doug Martin, Michael Turner and Steven Jackson, and said Jeanty every bit belongs with those names.
“Ashton, he doesn’t really have a weakness,” Koetter said. “A lot of guys coming out of college can’t pass protect at all. He’s good in pass protection. Even though we didn’t throw it to him much this year, he’s got excellent hands. That just wasn’t our strength. He’s durable. He’s got home run speed. Really good balance and he’s got power. He’s got everything you’re looking for.”
Jeanty caught only 14 passes last season but was productive in 2023 with 43 receptions for 569 yards (13.2 average) and five touchdowns. A third scout said that’s the remaining question for him in the evaluation puzzle: How effective can he be in the passing game and on third down? Is he on a tier just below guys such as Gibbs, Barkley and Bijan Robinson?
As a pure runner, Jeanty is on a different level in this draft and probably will be in elite company as a rookie in terms of playmaking ability. In a season with a Division I-high 2,601 yards, 1,970 of those came after contact. That second figure also would have led the nation in rushing. He had 10 runs of 60 yards or more, eight of them touchdowns, and was such a threat to break a big play that he averaged 27.8 yards on his 29 touchdown runs.
Jones-Drew, who had three consecutive seasons of 1,300-plus rushing yards for the Jaguars under Koetter, including 1,606 in 2011, has been evaluating running backs for the NFL Network’s draft coverage since 2016. He puts Jeanty No. 1.
“Ashton is the best one by far,” Jones-Drew said, “and it’s not even close. Being at Boise State, playing Oregon, Penn State and some of these other teams, I really like him. Great contact balance, vision, physical, long speed, he does it all. He catches the ball well out of the backfield, and the other part that made it easy for me was he was with Dirk Koetter.
“They weren’t using a lot of college run schemes, if that makes sense. A lot of times, you watch these (college) backs and they’re running RPO or shotgun-run stuff. You don’t see as much of that in the NFL. You’re going to see more traditional stuff where the running back is 7 yards deep, and that helps the scouting process.
“I’ve had a lot of coaches compare him to me. I tried not to do that. We’re similar in stature so I can see why people say that. But in the last 10 years, he’s the best prospect I’ve seen come out. Saquon wasn’t as good of a pass blocker at Penn State where as Ashton will put his face in there. That’s why I gave him a nod up. Plus, Saquon was playing with the crème de la crème.”
It’s a decision Poles might not have to wrestle with when he’s on the clock in Round 1 on April 24. Will Jeanty even be available at No. 10?
“Probably not,” the first national scout said.
Asked for some other backs who profile as players who potentially could pair well with Swift, he ticked off a robust list of options, including North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins of Ohio State, Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten, Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II, Devin Neal of Kansas, Kyle Monangai of Rutgers and Oregon’s Jordan James.
So if it’s not Jeanty for the Bears, they have a multitude of options. Poles, with his free-agency pursuit of Barkley — drafted No. 2 in 2018 by the New York Giants — proved he’s willing to be all in for the right back.
For now, it’s fun to let the mind wander about Jeanty.
