D’Andre Swift among top RBs ranked by NFL execs, coaches, and scouts for 2024

Chicago Bears running back D’Andre Swift should be fun to watch in 2024. His talent has never been in doubt, but after an odd start to his career with the Detroit Lions and a borderline revival in 2023 with the Philadelphia Eagles, there are still questions about whether he can emerge as a top-tier three-down running back in the NFL.

According to NFL executives, coaches, and scouts interviewed by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, there should be less doubt about Swift’s upside. He cracked the “honorable mentions” in their ranking of the league’s top running backs for 2024.

“Had the soft label [in Detroit] but overcame that,” an NFL running backs coach said. “[He’s] really elusive in space, burst, really good speed. [He] does a nice job catching out of the backfield.”

Swift entered the NFL as a near-first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, he was selected 35th overall. In the modern NFL Draft running back market, that’s high praise. Expectations were high for him with the Lions, but he never quite clicked with the coaching staff and offense during his time in the Motor City. He started just 16 of the 40 games he played and never had more than 151 carries in a season.

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That all changed last year with the Eagles. Swift started a career-high 15 games and had his first 1,000-yard rushing season. His 4.6 yards per carry tied for the second-best average of his career.

Everyone is talking about howCaleb Williams has DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet, and Gerald Everett

Don’t sleep on how he as D’Andre Swift as well

4k yard passing season really could happen pic.twitter.com/ZfJJVOLPIA

— Just Another Year Chicago: Bears (@OfficialJAYCHI) April 30, 2024

D’Andre Swift can be the next “Thomas Jones” for the Chicago Bears. Like Swift, Jones underperformed with the Arizona Cardinals, who selected him with a top-10 pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. He landed in Tampa Bay after three forgettable seasons in the desert and flashed the upside that made him a high first-rounder. The Bears signed him in free agency in 2004, and he responded by having three fantastic years in Chicago.

Maybe, just maybe, Swift will do the same.